Broken Pieces
by xBloomStarx
Summary: After the Winx destroyed Darkar in Realix, everyone went back to their normal lives. Except Bloom. While attempting to deal with the struggle of graduating Alfea and recovering from the trauma she endured in ShadowHaunt, she encounters a certain wizard that she never intended to meet. Let alone fall for.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Bloom, I'm in a fashion crisis!"

I rolled my eyes at the shrill voice, unable to hold back the smile it brought.

Turning around in my chair, the door to my dorm room burst open. A flustered blonde was revealed, looking anything but happy behind the enormous stack of clothes in her arms.

"Bloom, did you not hear what I said?" She inquired angrily, inviting herself in.

"Yes, Stella, I heard you. And I'm pretty sure every planet from here to Frost heard you, too." I replied, giggling.

I quickly blocked the pillow that was promptly tossed at my face.

"Ha-ha, very funny. I'm serious, Bloom. I don't know how to do this!" She examined each article of clothing she'd unceremoniously scattered across my bed.

"Your parents have been divorced for how long now? Ten years? I think you're perfectly capable of choosing what you want to wear to your mom's and what you want to wear to your dad's."

Picking up the pencil on my desk, I returned to the sketch I'd been working on. Much like the majority of the drawings I'd been recently pining over, this was turning out to be anything but what I'd hoped for. Just before I could put the lead to the paper, a huge stack of expensive clothes appeared on top of my sketch.

"But I bought that new summer collection from Wizrahi!" Stella cried, distress laced in her tone. "And then there's those new Spella McCartney sandals I bought last week that go with the green Fairygamo skirt! How do you expect me to separate what clearly goes together?"

"I don't know, Stel." I said, beginning to get frustrated. "I'm sure you can come to some kind of conclusion."

"I need your opinion, though!"

"I haven't even met your parents! How would I know what either of them would like? Besides, you're their daughter. They're going to love you even if you wear plaid with stripes."

She scoffed in indignation. "I would never wear something as horrifying as that."

Grateful that she had calmed down a bit, I brought the stack of clothes over to my bed, adding to the growing pile of haute couture fashion.

"Here, how about we try a game?" I suggested, sifting through the load. "I'll put an outfit together and you say where it'll look best at -your mom's or your dad's."

Stella shrugged, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "Sounds simple enough."

"But, there's one tiny little catch."

She frowned. "What catch?"

"Once you pick an outfit, none of those clothes can be transferred to the other suitcase."

A gasp of horror filled the air and she shot to her feet. "That is insanity! Why would you suggest something so . . . _so inhumane_?"

I sighed, tossing the shirt in my hand back. "Fine! If you don't like my rules then go ask Musa. I'm sure she'd _love_ to help you."

Judging by the look on her face, she didn't catch the sarcastic lilt in my voice.

"Musa!" She screamed, running out of the room. "Musa, I need your assistance!"

I laughed, hearing a distant slam of a door and its lock clicking.

"Musa, don't you dare ignore me!"

Music suddenly began to blare through the common room, barely muffled by the thin walls.

Stella and Musa could never coincide together. I'd wondered how we'd all managed to survive living two years in the same housing unit without becoming victims to their wrath.

The two girls were the living embodiments of hot and cold, not only in their appearances, but also in their personalities. Stella was the girly blonde with an obsession with fashion, while Musa was the tomboy who detested anything that included a skirt.

Therefore, the idea of Musa helping Stella with fashion was an easy thing to laugh at.

"You are horrible."

Glancing over my shoulder, I caught a glimpse of my smiling roommate walk in. "I'm only trying to get them to bond before summer starts."

"No, you just wanted to get Stella out. You know she and Musa are hot and cold."

Brutally erasing a particularly bad line, I started to re-draw the curve. "Okay, so maybe I did something against my better judgment. I'm sure no one's going to die from it."

Flora laughed and slid a chair up next to me. Her eyes carefully inspected drawing, taking in every detail I made. She appeared to be curious, but said nothing.

Flora had been my roommate for the past two years, and I couldn't have been more grateful for that. She was the peacekeeper of our little group, always gentle and always having a rational way to end a conflict.

After spending so much time together, Flora had become like the sister I'd never gotten the chance to have. Of course, no one would've guessed it based on appearance. With her long brown hair, tan skin, soft voice, and my unruly bright red hair, pale skin, and awkward demeanor, we were polar opposites.

"I didn't know you still drew." Flora said, nodding towards my sketch.

I shrugged, nonchalant. "I'm not that great at it anymore."

Picking up one of my pictures I'd tucked into the drawer of my desk, she shook her head. "What are you talking about! These are amazing, Bloom!"

"Not really. I've done better."

"Well, if you want, I can give you a few pointers. Helia's been teaching me some things about drawing."

"Oh, has he? I inquired suggestively at the mention of her boyfriend.

"Bloom, that is not appropriate!" Flora scolded, blushing.

"Lighten up, Flo! You know I'm just joking."

"Still, you poke fun at my relationship all the time!"

"Only because you make it so easy!"

She began rifling through the drawer, looking at everything else I'd crammed inside it. "What if I said something about you and Sky?"

I threw my hands up in innocence. "Go right ahead! My boyfriend and I have no secrets! Poke fun as much as you want!"

"That's not even fair." She huffed. "There's really nothing?"

I paused, my steady line faltering. " . . . I don't know. We sort of had a fight earlier."

Her brow furrowed, curiously. "About what?"

Setting the pencil down for what felt like the millionth time today, I sighed. "It was weird. I thought it'd be nice to spend some quality time with him and his parents on Eraklyon for a few days, since our summer vacation time's been cut shorter this year. But when I brought it up, he just freaked."

Flora frowned. "He freaked?"

"Yeah, it was really strange. He started coming up with all of these excuses about how he had 'things he had to take care of'. I don't know why he'd do that. It's not like I didn't get along with his parents the last time we went there or something."

She said nothing, but the way she was toying with the handle of the drawer sparked an interest in me.

"What?" I asked.

"It's nothing," she insisted. "It's just . . . maybe they caught wind."

"Caught wind of what?"

"Maybe they caught wind of what happened in Real-"

"Don't." I interrupted, quickly returning to my drawing.

"It's a possibility, though."

I shot her a look, a warning that she was crossing a line.

If there was one thing that I didn't want to talk about in my relationship with Sky, it was that. It had already caused a sore spot between me and him, and the thought that it could've created another with me and his parents was one that I absolutely did not need.

Unafraid of my wrath, she shot one right back.

"Fine." I mumbled, unintentionally making an extremely dark line on the paper. "_Maybe_."

Flora smiled and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I don't do this to upset you, sweetie. I do it because I care."

"Yeah, yeah," I pushed the paper aside, unhappy with what I was coming up with.

She laughed cheerily and stood up. "Come on, let's go get Stella and the others before someone gets killed. We all can go get some pizza or something."

Standing up, I grabbed the purse I'd laid next to my suitcase. "I am all for a pizza!"

Her face turned serious. "Before we go, I know you don't like talking about it." She said, carefully. "But, if you ever do want to talk about the Realix thing, I'm here. I know it must've been really traumatic for you, and I want to know you're okay."

Shifting the bag on my shoulder to ease the tension in my body, I shook my head. "I'm good, Flo."

She gave me the same she look she had earlier.

"I am, really. All I want to do is forget about it. Can we just go get some pizza?"

Frowning disapprovingly, she nodded. "Fine, fine. But, like I said-"

"I get it, Flora! If I need a therapist, I will call you!"

Alfea's courtyard was nearly bare by the time Flora and I got there. Most of the students had already left, dying to go get out and go home to their families.

But, of course, we were the oddball group.

The remaining four (Stella, Musa, Tecna, and Layla) had bunched together near the well, waiting for us to join them. We could hear Stella the moment we stepped outside, ranting about my 'atrocious' idea for how to separate her clothes.

"Stella, you complain about everyone's fashion choices!" Musa exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Why would you trust our choices for you when you hate the ones we make for ourselves?"

Stella looked offended. "Because you are my friends, Musa! I hoped that I had taught you all enough to at least put together a decent outfit." She gave the musician's outfit a once-over, her flared nostrils an indication she disapproved. "Clearly I was wrong."

"Wasn't she banging on her door asking for her help not half an hour ago?" Flora whispered to me, smiling.

I shrugged. I never understood how Stella's mind worked, and frankly, I didn't really care to. If I tried, I figured I would spontaneously combust from all the confusion.

"Now, here is a well-taught pupil!" Stella announced as we arrived, her eyes landing on me. "Bloom, the sweater and boots -good choices, keep making them!"

Giving her a fake smile, I nodded. "I try."

"Speaking of fashion," Layla interrupted, "did you ever finish packing?"

The princess frowned, crossing her arms. "No, unfortunately. I have to finish dividing my clothes into "Mom" and "Dad" when we get back."

"By my calculations, you can't properly divide your wardrobe for two separate locations. Your clothes don't amount to an even split." Tecna said as she typed furiously into her miniature laptop.

"_What?_"

"You calculated her wardrobe?" I asked, amazed. "Is that even possible?"

"It's Tecna." Musa replied. "Are you honestly surprised?"

"I don't believe you!" Stella denied, crossing her arms. "I was able to split it last year!"

"Yes, but you have to take into consideration the new clothes that you bought this year." The tech-savvy fairy said. "Your wardrobe has considerably increased and, in doing so, you managed to arrive at an odd number."

Her jaw dropped, eyes searching around for a logical explanation. She suddenly looked at me, practically begging for me to make everything better.

"Don't look at me." I said, holding my hands up. "I'm the one who told you it was a bad idea to be the entire Wizrahi collection."

Stella became distraught. "I'm checking this out for myself! Where are my bags?"

Instantly, I perked up. "I got this!" I yelled, spinning around to face the balcony where our dorms were.

Flora put a hand on my shoulder, her expression filled with worry. "Are you sure this is a good idea, sweetie? You know what Ms. F said about your powers-"

"Flo, my powers are fine." I insisted, wanting to prove her wrong.

"But Bloom-"

"_Hitherus_!"

The doors that led to the balcony suddenly burst open, a line of suitcases pouring out of them (it didn't even create a dent in the amount Stella actually had, but it was a start). The sight was enough to make everyone in the courtyard stop and stare.

"See?" I said, a triumphant smirk crossing my face. "I'm totally in control."

I regretted saying it the second it left my mouth.

Layla jumped in as soon as the bags started to fall to the ground. "Don't worry; it's my turn to get this!"

I don't think Stella had ever been happier that Layla had expert gymnastics skills than in that moment.

With a few well-timed jumps and flips, Layla successfully caught a suitcase on each arm and one ankle, somehow managing to balance on just one foot. Stella nearly passed out from relief, whining about how they were her 'precious babies.'

"Well, that was a close one."

"Not close enough," Musa said. "Look."

Directing our attention back to the balcony, we saw one final suitcase fly out of the doors. For a moment, we thought it would follow the same path as the others, until Tecna decided to speak up: "Based on the trajectory and speed of that bag, if Layla doesn't move within a few seconds, it's logical to say that-"

The suitcase collided with Layla before she could finish.

Musa shook her head, disappointed. "Be a little faster there next time, Tec."

"_My couture_!" Stella screamed in agony, her eyes wide as she scanned the now-open suitcases scattered across the courtyard. "Do you know how long it took me just to separate those four bags?"

"I think it's safe to say that you've still got a bit of dark magic lingering." Flora said, keeping her voice low enough for only us.

I opened my mouth to say something snippy, but then decided against it. Sure, I could be mean to Stella or Musa, but I couldn't bring myself to go that low around Flora.

"Wait, what's that?"

All of us looked up to the sky to see a bright sun flare appear before us. The intensity of the flare mixed with the brightness of the sun was enough to nearly blind us, forcing us to squint. Stella barely seemed to notice, looking straight at it.

"It's a Sungram from Solaria! Wanda's the official palace messenger."

Squinting to see through the light, I could barely make out the hologram of a blonde woman holding a scroll in her hand.

"The Royal Court of Solaria is pleased to announce our official Princess Ball." A woman's voice rang out, followed by a loud trumpet sound.

There was another flash of bright light and the woman was gone, replaced by an outline of a man in a regal outfit that I didn't recognize. "You're going to love your party, Stella. And I have a surprise announcement I'm going to make there that I believe will make you very happy."

The flare flashed once then completely dissipated, only leaving a trail of smoke in its stead.

Surprisingly, silence followed the Sungram. Blinking away the black spots that filled my vision, I glanced over at Stella. Her jaw was dropped in shock, a wide smile spreading over her face.

"Oh no."

Stella screeched, jumping up and down, the suitcases sprawled across the ground forgotten. "I can't believe it! I'm actually going to have a Princess Ball!"

"Stella, calm down!" Layla yelled, trying to tame the blonde. "You're scaring the other students."

"Um, I don't particularly like to sound dumb," I said, confused, "but what's a Princess Ball?"

"Something stupid," Musa commented under her breath.

"It's like a princess's coming out to society," Flora explained.

"We don't have anything like that on Zenith," Tecna declared, typing furiously into her mini laptop again. "But, according to my research, it's a special ball held by a princess's parents on her eighteenth birthday. It's merely a social gathering to publicly announce that the heir to the throne will soon begin her training."

"Training?" I asked.

"Princesses have to have special training lessons before ascending. The people want a well-rounded, proper ruler."

"It's the most amazing thing in the entire universe!" Stella shouted, still jumping. "I didn't think I'd have one because of my parents' split! But I was wrong! And I'm so happy that I was wrong! This is so exciting!"

Musa turned to look at me, nodding. "So, like I said," she told me, "something stupid."

As much as I didn't want to rain on Stella's parade, I had to agree with Musa. Holding a ball in honor of a princess going into training for her ascension to the throne seemed a bit over-exaggerated. Was it really necessary to go to such lengths over something that a princess is supposed to do anyway?

It wasn't even her birthday . . .

It wasn't even _August_. it's _June_.

_Hell, she'd already turned eighteen!_

"I am so lost." I muttered to myself, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I have so much work to do before this weekend!" Stella exclaimed. "I have to buy a dress, and shoes, and jewellery, and send the invitations, and -."

There was a deadly silent pause.

Looking back over at Stella, I noticed a mischievous smile spread across her face as her eyes landed on me.

"No."

"Oh, Bloom, please?" She begged, clasping her hands together. "There's no way I can get this done all by myself!"

"I have to go back to Earth, Stel! We only have a few weeks off this year; I want to see my parents."

"But it's tradition for the princess to have her best friend at the ball! This is a once in a lifetime thing! Please?"

Frankly, the last thing I wanted to do was attend a ball. It wasn't that I didn't want to go for Stella, but it was the fact that I'd never been to one before. I didn't have the luxury of having princess lessons or learning how to act around royalty, like the other girls. Sure, Sky's family was royalty, but I always guessed at what to do around them. And -big surprise- I tended to choose the wrong things to do.

The thought of expressing that concern to Stella though was instantly brushed off. Stella had the ability to acknowledge other people's feelings, but empathizing with them is another story.

Sighing in defeat, I ran a hand through my hair. "Alright, fine. I'll tell Mike and Vanessa I'll be a few days late."

Stella screeched again and threw her arms around me, squeezing tightly. "This is going to be so amazing!"

Musa started snickering and leaned close to my ear. "You are so screwed."

* * *

><p><em>*bursts out of the ground Ichabod Crane style* I AM ALIVE!<em>

_Alright, I'm going to keep this very short because I have a 5:30 wake up call for school and it's already 12:00 at night. _

_So, as we all can see I have returned with a rewrite, you could say, of the third season of Winx Club! Yes, I am very aware that it is not like what it is in the show -that's the point. There is a very slight chance that I may do a few edits on this chapter just to make sure that I got everything correct -nothing major, just a few itty bitty tweaks to some words and whatnot. _

_Hopefully, I should have the next update done by the end of my fall break, so be on the look out for chapter two!_

_-Bloom_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"A masquerade!"

"I will not show up if it's a masquerade."

"What's wrong with a masquerade?"

"We are not the most coordinated group of fairies, Stell! We'll be standing right next to each other and we'll get lost!"

Flora looked at me from across the table, eyes pleading for me to stop Stella and Musa's bickering.

I shrugged, shaking my head. The idea that I had the ability to stop them was futile in itself.

"We won't get lost. We're the Winx Club, Musa! For Dragon's sake, we stand out whether we like it or not!" Stella suddenly glared at all of us. "And we _will_ stand out."

"Why do you want a masquerade, Stella?" I asked, interrupting the argument. "Your party's already going to make the news."

"I know, Bloom, but it's _my_ party; therefore, I will make sure it goes down in history."

"And a masquerade will make history how?"

"Solaria hasn't had a masquerade ball in over 200 years. If Stella chooses to make her theme masquerade then it will not only be labeled as the most eccentric party of the year but also one that could have the potential to make history books." Tecna said from her spot by the door of the pizzeria.

I nearly spat out my drink. "There hasn't been a masquerade on your planet in 200 years?"

Stella nodded. "It's a tragedy that they're such a rarity." She sighed, almost dreamily. "They're so romantic."

"Yes, because that's what we're all looking for —multiple boyfriends." Layla said, crossing her arms.

"Or, for some, just _one_." Stella added, waggling her eyebrows at Layla.

The Princess of Tides rolled her eyes. "Stella, I don't need a boyfriend; nor do I want one. I've managed to survive seventeen years without one —the rest shouldn't be that difficult."

"Oh, come on, Layla! Your über-feminist ways are nothing compared to my matchmaker skills. I'm the queen of love! And you, my dear Layla, are in desperate need of a man." A devious smile crossed her face. "Plus, might I add, I am the reason why everyone else here has a boyfriend. I have connections."

"I'm going to laugh when your most prized pairing breaks up and ruins your matchmaker career."

Stella gasped in horror. "Don't even say that! Now you've jinxed Bloom and Sky!"

"My relationship is your greatest triumph?" I asked, curiously.

"Um, yes! You two have lasted the longest —aside from me and Brandon—, and I managed to get you two to meet within 24 hours of knowing you. If that's not a major accomplishment, what is?"

"Can we get the pizza and go, please?" Musa yelled, breaking up the talk about boys. "I'm starving!"

Glancing over at Flora, she gave me a sad half-smile. Both of us knew that it was anything but paradise in Musa's love life. We all had thought she and Riven had grown closer since the fight in Realix until she came to Flora one night a few weeks ago, wondering how to handle his attitude.

I can guarantee if you look up the word, you'll find Riven's face plastered across the page with his stupid spiked hair. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that he was a total jerk with an attitude problem, seeing that he always walked around with a sneer on his face. After the past two years of having to put up with him, however, he seemed to get a bit softer. Not much, but just enough to barely be noticed. And all because of Musa.

Ever since that night, any slight mention of boys seemed to set the musician off.

"Yes, I clearly remember being bribed to come out with pizza." I agreed. "However, there is no pizza in my hands."

"You all are such babies." Stella complained, walking over to the counter. "You two have feet!"

"Says the girl who claims she can't change the channel because she just got a _pedicure_." Musa mumbled.

The bell on the door to the parlor rang out, disturbing the peace and quiet. I didn't recognize any of the three girls that walked in. All I could tell was that they definitely weren't from any school on Magix, judging by their burgundy uniform dresses. The one that seemed to act as the head of the group was a tall, skeleton-thin girl with a badly done black dye job that was a stark contrast to her pale skin. She had tried to make up for it with her dark eye makeup, but it wasn't complementing her whatsoever —neither was the drawn-on mole high up on her right cheek.

The three girls approached the counter next to Stella, the one in front giving her the evil eye.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're about to break out into a fight?" Musa asked under her breath.

"Because we've had a fairly decent day, and that's against the natural balance of things."

Just as the chef was about to put the pizza box in Stella's hands, the first girl reached out and grabbed it. _Here we go_, I thought as I instantly jumped up to stand next to Stella.

"Excuse you!" Stella yelled, putting her hands on her hips. "That's ours!"

The girl held her nose high in the air, believing she was superior to us. "Possession is nine-tenths of the law." she replied, her voice light and edgy.

"Good," I said, glaring at her, "then my fireball is going to take possession of nine-tenths of your face."

"Bloom!" Flora warned from behind me.

Stella leaned over the counter to look for the chef. "Whatever. Hey, chef guy, when's the next one going to come out?"

"Twenty minutes!"

"You won't mind waiting." the girl said, smirking.

"No, _you _won't mind waiting!" Stella snapped, grabbing and pulling the pizza box towards her.

The tug sent both girls flying across the room, pizza toppings getting all over their designer dresses. Despite how horrified each of them was, they shot to their feet with a stain removal spell to save their clothes.

"_Vanishus_!"

"_Stainus Removus_!"

"Ugh, what are you?" the girl asked, her nose turned up in disgust. "Alfea fairies?"

"Yeah!" Stella exclaimed, angrily. "What are you?"

Over-dramatically spinning around, she snapped her fingers high in the air. "Betas!"

Her two friends started to do a horribly basic dance routine behind her, their smirks matching hers. "_Tick, tock! Tick, tock! Betas, rule! Betas, rock_!"

I had to bite my lip to stifle the laughter that was about to spill out of my throat. Catching Musa out of the corner of my eye, I saw that she had to turn around to hide how red her face was getting.

"Where's Beta?" Stella asked with a laugh. "In the realm of Cutesy?"

"At least we're not from the realm of Dork!" she spat, rage in her eyes.

Her friends snapped their fingers. "Snap, snap!"

Musa buried her face in her hands to keep from laughing out loud.

"Anyway," Flora said, stepping a little in front of Stella, "what are you girls doing in Magix? I know the Beta Academy is a good distance from here. You must've traveled so far for something important."

"Chimera's having a Princess Ball." one of the groupies spoke up in her nasally voice, nodding towards the lead girl.

"Oh, really? It's a small world after all then, isn't it, Bloom?"

Looking up at her, I furrowed my brow. "What?"

She subtly jerked her head towards the Beta girls, silently asking for my help.

"Right!" I chirped, jumping to Flora's aide with a wide, fake smile. "Stella's having a Princess Ball, too! Isn't that right, Stell?"

Her brown eyes glared at the wall on the other side of the room, refusing to acknowledge that I'd spoken to her.

"_Stella._"

She glared up at ceiling, clearly annoyed with me. "Yes, _Bloom_, I am having a Princess Ball, too." Malice and sarcasm dripped off every word.

"We're dress shopping." the nasally one added.

"Cool, so are we!" Flora said, holding her hands together. "We have so much in common. It's so nice to meet other fairies from a different magic school."

Chimera's lip curled, her brow furrowed in detest. "What are you made of? Gumdrops and sugar plum pie?"

"Whoa, hold up!" Musa exclaimed, intervening at last. "You can say whatever you want to about Stella, but don't diss my girl, Flo!"

"Yeah!" Stella agreed, stepping forward, as well. "Aside from the comment about me, though."

"What are you going to do about it?" Chimera dared, getting in Stella's face.

There was definitely something between them that wasn't being said. I glanced over at Tecna and saw her giving me the same confused look, noticing the intensity."

"You know what?" I interrupted, hearing Stella growl. "I think it's time that we head to the mall, now."

"Good idea." Flora said, nodding in agreement.

"I'm not done here, yet!" Stella shouted, the tension between Chimera and her thickening by the minute.

"Let's go get that dress, Stell!" I said, beginning to drag the princess outside. She was too distracted by her fury to put up a decent fight, allowing me to easily get her to the door.

Just as I was about to get her out the door, she snapped back into reality with a smug grin on her face. "By the way, while you're shopping, that pre-teen meets goth look is very becoming on you. You should really stick with it."

"Stella!" I snapped, slapping her shoulder.

Tecna suddenly spun around, snapping her fingers. "_Snap_!"

"_Tecna, I swear to God!_"

"Good one, Tec!" Stella said, smirking as we shoved her out the door.

Magix is one of the most popular tourist cities of the Magic Dimension, always bustling with people —and today was no exception. Tourists and natives alike milled about the sidewalks, some even dared the streets, passing around us as we stood outside the only mall that Stella would buy her 'dream dress' at.

"I call not helping you buy a dress." I announced, already turning to walk away.

"Ditto." Musa chimed, following me. "If you need us, we'll be at the music store and getting another pizza somewhere else."

"Dear God, you know me so well."

A firm grip on my arm jerked me back to an unsatisfied Stella. "Bloom, you are going to help me with this; and you will like it."

My shoulders slumped and I groaned like a five year old. "But I want to get pizza with Musa! I was promised pizza, dammit!"

"I thought you wanted to get your hair spelled." Flora piped up curiously, looking over at Musa.

The musician paused, her countenance blank. "Oh yeah. Sorry, B."

"I thought we had something special." I sighed, disappointed. "Flo?" I spun towards the brunette fairy, hopeful.

She smiled, meekly. "I was going to meet up with Helia for a while."

My face fell. If there was one thing I despised more than shopping with Stella, it was being a third wheel with Flora on one of her 'dates' with Helia. "Tec?"

"Sorry. I'm going to a video game tournament to study the enhancements on Timmy's new game."

". . . Layla?"

"I'm going surfing."

I hung my head in defeat. "You're killin' me Smalls."

All of the girls stared at each other, clearly not comprehending my reference.

"Forget it, it's an Earth thing!" I explained, not bothering to fight back as Stella grabbed my wrist and started dragging me toward the doors of the mall.

"We love you!" Musa called after us. Lucky for her, she ran off before I had the chance to chase after her.

I tore out of Stella's grip and frowned. Glaring at the blonde, I crossed my arm unhappily. "I hope you're happy with yourself."

Laughing, she threw an arm around my shoulders. "I promise we'll go get another pizza later. But right now, we have more important things to take care of!"

I had never endured a mall as mind-numbing as the one we went in. I was certain I would have nightmares about it for weeks after we left. Seventy floors, each a different store with different selections. Being a third wheel on one of Flora's dates was quickly turning into a better option after the fifth floor.

"I am so done with this." I murmured as we ascended to the next floor.

"Oh, please. We've barely scratched the surface." Stella reprimanded, strolling onto yet another platform.

My eyes widened. "But this is the fifteenth floor . . ."

"Don't be such a baby. Remember, you're going to have to try on dresses, too." The same bright light enveloped her for a few moments, leaving her in . . .

"_Whoa, what?_" I shouted in protest, not expecting that statement to fly out of her mouth.

"Too sparkly?" she inquired, picking up the pink skirt.

"I'm not talking about the dress! Why do _I_ need a dress? I have plenty of dresses!"

Stella put her hands on her hips, narrowing her gaze while her newly done ponytail swished behind her. "Bloom, you will not go to my Princess Ball wearing some thirty dollar dress you picked up at a JCPenney's on Earth that you've worn five times to other events."

I matched her glare, plopping down in the nearest chair I could find. ". . . That's cheating. You know I don't have anything else."

A triumphant smirk lit up her face. "You're just lazy. I know how you are."

"Um, no, it's called recycling," I defended. "And, last I checked, that was a good thing."

"Not in fashion, my dear! Which is why you will get up here and try some on."

"Ew, no."

She glared at me, trying to put every ounce of intensity she could into it.

"You find your dress first!" I told her, desperate to find an out. "It's your ball; you finding a dress is the most important thing right now."

"My best friend has to look hot, too!" She paused, thinking over her statement for a moment. "Well, not as hot as me . . . but very close to it!"

I couldn't not roll my eyes. "Will you just focus on you so this can go by faster? Pizza is calling my name and I have half a mind to run away!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down, Miss Anger Management Issues!"

Going back to trying on what seemed like hundreds of designer dresses, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, searching for Tecna's number. Pressing on the text box, I rapidly typed out my message:

_Are you too busy to run a search on what's up between Chimera and Stella?_

I got a reply not two minutes later:

_I started running a scan of the web the moment we left the pizza shop._

And that's why I love Tecna.

Stella and I were still on the same floor of the mall an hour later, going through dress after dress after dress. I was slumped down in my chair, giving Stella a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down with each gown she tried on.

After yet another flash of bright light, she was standing in a strappy, crimson-colored, silk and sheer dress that had large crystal circles down the center that held the open front together, with a headband to match.

Stella's eyes widened as she looked in the mirror. "This is it!" she instantly screamed, twirling around on the platform. "This is the dress!"

I raised an eyebrow, my eyes catching the exposed-ness of the dress. "Not to be a letdown or anything, but isn't that a little too . . . I don't know, _out there_? I've never been to a Princess Ball, but I'm pretty sure that's not—"

Glancing down at the fabric, she shook her head in disappointment. "Bloom, I swear, you're such a virgin to fashion. It makes me sad."

"Can we just buy the dress and leave, please?" I asked, feeling my muscles strain from trying not to set my jaw.

"Hold up, hotshot," she said, bringing up a hologram of a keypad. "We have to find out where it is."

"You're wearing it!"

"Oh, Bloom, you're so adorably naϊve. Don't you remember what I said on the way here? The way these stores are set up, you can try on any dress from any designer. And this one, according to the chart here—" she gasped audibly, bringing a hand to her heart.

"What is it?" I asked, stepping only close enough to reach the edge of the platform.

"There's only one!" she replied, continuing to be horrified. If it were me, I would've been more horrified by the price. I guess that's one of the perks of being filthy rich. "And it's at the boutique a few blocks down!" Leaping off the platform, she grabbed my arm and began dragging me back through the store.

"Can't we slow down?" I asked, trying not to stumble down the stairs. "How are you even going this fast in heels?"

"We'll go get you a dress later!" Stella shouted, completely ignoring my request. "But I have to get this dress before someone else steals it!"

"Stella, no one is going to buy your dress!"

That was the second thing I regretted saying that day.

Not one second after the words left my mouth, we ran past a flash of bright red. Stella screeched to a halt in the middle of the aisle, turning around at a deadly slow pace. Following her gaze, my eyes almost popped out of my head as I saw the girl wearing Stella's dress.

Chimera.

"Kill me now." I muttered, beginning to try and get Stella's attention again. "Just leave it alone, Stella. If you want to beat her to getting the dress, we have to leave. As in, leave the mall. Like, now."

Stepping past me, she stormed over to Chimera, eyes aflame. "What do you think you're doing wearing my Princess Ball dress?"

"You mean _my_ Princess Ball dress." she corrected, smirking at Stella.

"She's just trying to rile you up, Stell." I muttered in Stella's ear. "Don't let her get to you. This is what she wants. Let's just go."

"Well, there's only one like it, and it's going to be mine!"

The spell on both of them faded, leaving the girls in their normal clothes once again. Chimera stepped off the platform, stopping when she just beside Stella. "Oh and your shoe's untied."

Stella stared down at her shoes, confused. "What? No, it's not."

Chimera suddenly shoved Stella forward, causing her to fall down on the nearest platform. Just as I was about to run over, one of the girls from her posse shoved me over to the other side, making me fall onto the other platform.

"_Barrier Lockdown_!" Chimera shouted, snapping her fingers towards us.

Standing up to go after her, the platforms we were on went haywire, surrounding us with a translucent green barrier mean to keep us inside it. Stella went to kick the wall, but her feet were immediately forced back to the ground, freezing her.

"Later, Alfea wannabes!" she bade before stalking off with her friends flanking her on each side.

"I cannot believe I fell for that!" Stella exclaimed, continuing to struggle with moving. "All of my shoes have an anti-untie spell on them!"

"Stella, you idiot!" I yelled, glaring at her. "You don't even have shoe laces! You're wearing _sandals_!"

Glancing back down at her shoes, she made a tiny noise of surprise. "Oh, well would you look at that . . . "

Rolling my eyes, I reached up and ran my hands through my hair. "Stella, one of these days, I'm going to just—"

"You can move!"

Puzzled by what she said, I furrowed my brow. "What?"

"You can move!" Stella said. "You're not supposed to be able to move!"

Curiously looking around at the barrier surrounding me, my curiosity grew. I could sense it was a powerful spell, but my Dragon Fire could've easily deflected it. If the spell had no effect on me, what all could I do to it?

Focusing my energy into my hands, I hesitantly reached towards the green wall. Barely an inch away from it, I gently tapped it. The barrier immediately shattered, freeing me from the useless spell.

Leaping off the platform, I turned and ran towards Stella's.

"No, go!"

I came to an abrupt halt. "What?"

"Go after them! Get to the dress before they do!"

"I'm not going to leave you here when I can easily break you out!"

"Go!" Stella demanded. "The spell will fade as soon as they get out of range! Put a hold on the dress until I get there!"

I frowned, reluctant. "What if they get there first?"

"Don't think like that! Honestly, I don't care what you do! Just stop her!"

Giving her a final glance, I dashed off in Chimera's direction. Pushing past a number of people in the store, I tripped over my own feet as I stumbled out the sliding doors. Taking a second to steady myself again, I turned my head just in time to see Chimera and her roadies look back to check if we were following them.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw me and cursed loudly, taking off in the other direction.

"Hey! I yelled, running after them.

In spite of their stupidly high heels, the Beta girls were fast —extremely fast. Due to my late start, I was half a block behind them, failing to gain any speed. I could barely run without heels, so the ones I had on now weren't helping me at all. I wasn't going to catch up to them at this pace.

_You could use less than conventional methods to get to them._

The moment I finished the thought, I shook my head to get rid of it. I didn't need to use magic to win this; I'd be fine.

Stella's words echoed in the deep recesses of my mind, loud and tempting. _I don't care what you do! Just stop her!_

Suddenly, I didn't want to run anymore. I didn't want to be half a block behind them. I wanted to be half a block _in front_.

Without any time to think, there was a bright flash before my eyes. The moment it disappeared, I was somewhere else. I was still in Magix City, but . . . on a different street? Looking around at the surrounding signs, my jaw dropped as I recognized the street I'd landed on.

Half a block ahead of Chimera.

I didn't have too much time to dwell on what happened, catching a glimpse of black hair behind me.

"What the—?" Chimera exclaimed, coming to a stop. "You were just—"

"What's your deal?" I interrupted. Approaching her, I could see a tiny flicker of fear deep in her eyes.

"My deal? What's _your_ deal?"

"Clearly you have a beef with Stella." I ignored her. "I get it. She gets it. We all get it. But you two just met; there's no way this fight is just over a stupid pizza.

"Now, since I don't like to meddle with other people's affairs unless I absolutely have to," I said, "we're going to settle this with a short and simple solution. So, you're going to stop being a little bitch and I'm going to get Stella's dress, then we're both going to go our separate ways so we never have to look at each other ever again."

I could see the attitude in her expression as she crossed her arms. "And if I don't?"

I sighed, trying to contain the darkness in me that screamed to burn her to a crisp. "If you don't, I'm going to tie all of you up with a fire rope and—"

A terrifyingly cold chill pierced my soul, stunning me into silence. The only time I'd ever felt something cold as that was when Icy froze me in a block of ice during freshmen year. A chill that radiated down to every nerve and vein in my body.

Chimera glanced behind her, confused by my sudden quiet demeanor.

And then it shattered.

Every frozen bone and muscle inside me was shed of its icy covering with so much force I was thrown to the sidewalk, gasping for breath as if I'd re-surfaced from being held underwater.

Oblivious to what was causing my odd reaction, Chimera took off, ushering the others to follow her.

"Bloom!"

I remained on the sidewalk, shaking with fear and cold, as Stella appeared, kneeling down beside me. "Are you okay?" She asked, eyes wide with concern. "What did she do to you?"

"It wasn't her." I managed to rasp out, my throat instantly raw.

"Then who was it?" Slinging my arm around her shoulders, she eased me back onto my feet, keeping me from collapsing back onto the pavement.

I shook my head, staring where Chimera and her friends had run off to. "I don't know."

We didn't get back to Alfea till dusk, the sun barely giving off any rays. Tecna had sent me a text, reminding us about the eight o'clock curfew, but neither of us truly cared.

Stella had been blatantly upset when we reached the dress shop, finding that Chimera had beaten us there. While she had been throwing her temper tantrum outside, I'd tried asking if the worker was sure that it had been the only dress. What caught my attention more than the lack of stock on the dress was how she'd referred to Chimera as the Princess of Solaria. I wanted to ask about it, but I didn't dare bring it up around Stella —even if she _was_ outside of the building.

We ended up trudging back to the mall to try and find another dress before the last bus to Alfea took off.

"I'm sorry you didn't get your dream dress."

"It's cool." Stella said, shrugging. "You did what you could. It's not like you asked to have that attack or anything. You certainly did more than what the other girls would have done if they were in your place."

I laughed. "Yeah, if it was Musa, she wouldn't have even left the store."

"I wouldn't have been able to get her _in_ the store! Besides, it's not like I didn't get a dress."

"But it wasn't the dress that you _wanted_. If that _thing_ would have happened just a few minutes later, I would have been golden." I muttered, pushing my hair back behind my ear.

"Hey," she snapped, her voice becoming stern, "don't beat yourself up over it."

Fiddling with my fingers nervously, I stared off in the darkness around us. "Could I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah, anything."

"Could you . . . you know, _not_ tell anyone about what happened —to me, at least?"

She looked at me as if I'd grown five heads. "Bloom—"

"Stell, please? I don't want anyone making a big deal out of this."

"It was a big deal!"

"_Was_. That's it –it's over now."

She sighed, hesitant. "Fine. I won't say anything. But if something like it happens again, I'm saying something!"

Close enough. If there was one thing I'd learned from being friends with Stella in the past few years, it was that arguing with her was almost always pointless.

"So, what do you think your surprise is?" I asked her, changing the subject.

Stella gave me a curious look. "What surprise?"

"In that Sungram, your dad said something about having a surprise for you." I elaborated, kicking a rock with the tip of my shoe.

She shrugged, not as exuberant as she was earlier in the day. "Well, Wanda did say it was from the Royal Court," she said. "And the Royal Court includes Dad _and_ Mom . . ."

My head shot up, astounded by her implication. "You think your parents are going to get back together?"

Stella nodded, biting her lip excitedly.

"But I thought your parents couldn't stand each other," I said. "You said it yourself that they can't even walk on the same street without wanting to kill each other."

"I know, it's ridiculous," she agreed. "Is it so bad to hope for it, though?"

A pang of guilt struck me. I'd never noticed just how vulnerable Stella was when discussing her parents. It was common among kids with divorced parents –wishing for them to reunite– but from what I'd heard from Stella, that was a one in a million chance.

Nevertheless, I couldn't bring myself to crush her hopes. Back on Earth, my friend (and ex-boyfriend) Andy had had that same hope. He, however, had been in deeper than Stella. Everyone and everything knew about his dream for his parents to get back together. When his father found out though, he didn't dance around Andy's emotions; crushed them instantly in an argument that I had regrettably been present for. Andy was never the same after that night.

If Stella had that hope, I surely wasn't going to be the one to destroy it.

"No," I told her, averting my eyes back to my feet. "No, it's not."

After a few minutes of walking, we finally reached the dorm. It wasn't a surprise that all the girls were still wide awake, waiting for us.

"So, how did dress shopping go?" Flora asked the moment we walked in.

"Horrible!" Stella shouted, not bothering to sugarcoat it. "That goth chick Chimera went and stole the dress I was going to buy for my party!"

"First pizzas, now dresses," Musa muttered, pretending to be solemn as she played with her newly lengthened pigtails. "She's escalating."

"But, we didn't come back empty-handed!" I positively reminded Stella, glad that she kept her word to not say anything about what happened during the chase. "And it appears that Musa didn't either, little Miss Long Hair over there!"

"Musa, it looks so good!" Stella praised, shocked. "You look like a girl now!"

"Why don't you tell them about your dress, Stella?" I immediately suggested, catching a glimpse of the fury in the musician's eyes.

She crossed her arms with a huff. "I had to settle for a pink Fairygamo. It's not as fabulous as the other one, but it was nice."

"You spent over five-thousand dollars on it; it better be nice." Taking the time to look around the room, I sensed someone missing. "Where's Layla?"

The other girls looked at each other, wary. "She was . . . called away, in a sense."

"Called away?" Stella asked. "Like on a princess thing?"

"We guess. We were all hanging out on the beach waiting for you two when things got weird." Musa added to Flora's statement, worry replacing her anger.

"Got weird?" I repeated.

"This huge tidal wave," she nodded. "It came out of nowhere; had to be the size of the Council building."

"After we helped everyone get out of the water, though, it just collapsed on itself." Tecna said. "I tried to research any similar anomalies, but nothing came up."

"Then a mermaid showed up."

My eyes widened, surprised. "A _mermaid_?"

"Yes, Bloom, they exist, too. But, moving on," the musician rolled her eyes. "She was looking for Layla, then said, 'Code Word: Sandbar.'"

"Code word: Sandbar?" Stella reiterated, shaking her head at the ridiculous name. "What does that mean?"

"Who knows? But the next thing we knew, Layla dove in the water and disappeared with her." Tecna finished. "We haven't received any word from her since."

"She's going to miss the party of the century if she doesn't hurry back!"

I turned my head towards the blonde in disbelief. "_That's_ your number one concern? Not 'I hope she's okay?'"

"Well, yeah, Bloom, I'm worried!" she desperately claimed, realizing how her words sounded. "Let's not fret on it, though. It'll only just bring our moods down." Walking across the room, she glanced out the glass doors that led to the balcony. "Besides, Layla's tough; she can take care of herself."

"However, she does make snap judgments which do tend to lead her into trouble." Tecna pointed out.

"Oh, please, how many of us don't do that?"

"Both Tecna and Flora, I'm pretty sure." I said.

She aimed her finger at both of them, accusingly. "You wait! One of these days _both of you_ are going to make snap judgments that are going to get you in trouble." Pausing, she smirked, maliciously. "And I'll be there to remind you of this very moment."

Musa raised an eyebrow, but then shook her head. "Alright, well, I have places to be, so I'm going to leave the psycho with all of you."

"You're leaving?" I asked.

"Already sent my bags to my dad's house." she said, nodding and walking to the door. "See you losers later!"

"I better see you at my party Saturday!" Stella screamed after her.

As she closed the door, Musa slung her arm back into the room, middle finger in the air. Stella gasped, insulted, turning away just as Musa finally closed the door.

After an hour more of talking, we all decided it was time to go to bed. None of us really wanted to, considering it would be our last night together in the dorm for a good month or so, but it was inevitable.

Not five seconds after my head hit the pillow, though my phone went off, vibrating loudly. Quickly picking it up before it could catch Flora's attention, I looked down to see who was texting me.

"Why is Tecna texting me when she's right next door?" I muttered to myself, opening it to look at the message.

_Couldn't find anything on Chimera that could link her to Stella. I'll try to look deeper tomorrow._

Sighing, I fell onto the pillows again, setting my phone back on the nightstand. If Tecna couldn't find anything, it was no use in trying anything more. Staring up at the ceiling of the dorm, I felt a sense of dread that I couldn't shake. A sense that we wouldn't need the Realm Wide Web to figure out how Chimera was linked to Stella.

The answer was bound to find us, instead.

* * *

><p><em>Well, this went on a lot longer than I'd originally anticipated. This reached over 5,000 words and it originally wasn't . . . Oh well. WHAT'S DONE IS DONE. (From now on, just know that these chapter could go from 3,000 words to anything above that number.) <em>

_As you can see though, there was A LOT of content covered in this chapter, and a lot of description to portray that content -which is why I am a few days late on my promise to get it done on the 12th. I know I said it would be done on the 12th, but I wanted to be completely happy with the chapter and I wanted it to be a chapter that wasn't rushed for all of you, so I came up with this! Don't hate me for my lateness!_

_I screwed with this part of the episode so much and I am not sorry about it, whatsoever. And before I get reviews that say "BLOOM IS SO OOC OMFG" -yes, that's how she's supposed to be, due to specific plot points that will be revealed further on in the story. If you don't like, that's not my problem._

_Anyway, yay! Chapter 2 is done! And now we go on to Chapter 3 where one of my absolute favorite scenes of this whole first book (yes, I did say first book *unsubtle wink*) will make its fabulous debut! Once again, I will see you all again sometime in the next two to three weeks! And if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in a review, or better yet, message me and I will address it as soon as I possibly can!_

_~Bloom_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Bloom, wake up! Do you not smell that? That's daylight burning!"

Storming out of my dorm, I slammed the door open. "I'm no more asleep than the last time you yelled at me, ten minutes ago!" I shouted, pinning a loose strand of hair back into my ponytail.

Setting _another_ one of her suitcases down in the common room, she glanced over at me. "No need to yell."

"When you're getting on me to hurry up every two seconds, I have every right to yell."

"Just calm down before your hot head sets something on fire."

Rolling my eyes, I walked back over to my bed to finish packing my last bag. When I had first arrived at Alfea two years ago, I came with a single suitcase. Sadly, not much has changed about that, except I now have _two_ suitcases (Yes, I know, it's very impressive.). I never felt the need to have a lot of things, in contrast to Stella who had to buy everything she laid her eyes on.

Stella had insisted on getting to Solaria as early as possible, banging on my door at eight in the morning. At first, I'd just ignored it, but it grew more difficult when she managed to unlock the door and steal every blanket in the room. I decided it was pointless to stay in the bed any longer after she took the pillows.

Zipping the suitcase shut, I took a final look around the dorm. The walls were bare; not a single thing adorning them. I always got a little sentimental after every year, knowing that I wouldn't be staying in this room anymore until I got back. It was ridiculous since I'd be moving back in in a few weeks, but it was still sad to see it so empty.

Flora had left earlier in the morning, along with Tecna. Each decided to go back to their home planets, wanting to relax for a few days before the ball.

I only wish I'd had that option.

Setting my last suitcase on the ground, I rolled it out into the common room, right next to the first one.

"Are you finally ready? It's already eleven!" Stella inquired, standing up to address me. The amount of suitcases that surrounded her was ungodly.

"I don't know, are you?" I joked. "I don't think you packed everything."

"I already sent the other half to Solaria like an hour ago."

I paused, quizzical, but decided not to delve deeper. "Then can we teleport ourselves now?"

She slipped off a large and circular pale blue ring on her finger and examined the orange gem in its center. "Yes, now that you've decided to finally grace everyone with your presence." Tossing it up into the air, it magically grew into a tall scepter and fell gracefully back into her hand.

"Are you not bringing Kiko?" she asked, looking around for the mischievous rabbit.

"Mike and Vanessa are taking care of him until I get back." I said. "I figured you wouldn't appreciate waking up to a bunny chewing a hole through your new dress."

"Very true. Now let's get this party started!"

Raising the scepter high above her head, she slammed it down into the ground. A great burst of white light exploded around us and we were shot into the air.

After all the times I've suffered through teleporting, I still wasn't used to it. The way you basically turned into a puddle that was being catapulted through the air while your stomach twisted and somersaulted. It most certainly was not missed.

The trip only lasted a few seconds, but to me it lasted an eternity until I stumbled onto my feet. And being my normal, graceful self, the queasiness I experienced got the best of me, making my legs wobble. Luckily, Stella noticed and caught me before I could hit the ground, commenting on how she'd never met anyone who reacted as negatively to teleporting as I did.

Taking a few seconds to regain my balance, I took my first look around. I was stunned. The Solarian palace was just as lavish as Stella had described, maybe even more.

We had landed in the center of the room, right next to a large, intricate fountain. The walls were made of pure alabaster, not a single area chipped or cracked. Sunlight poured in from the ceiling -or the lack thereof- making all of the wild plants spur with life. Not a single spot of darkness was in sight.

And that was just the garden.

"Welcome to Solaria!" Stella exclaimed, twirling her scepter back into a ring. "So, what do you think?"

I laughed in disbelief. "You all certainly know how to make an Earth girl feel inferior, that's for sure." A fluttering caught my attention and a small butterfly with bright blue wings and orange accents suddenly landed on my shoulder. It almost seemed to stare at me for a moment before flying away into the sun.

"Stella!"

She perked up at the husky, humble voice and immediately turned around, running. "Daddy!"

Watching her trail, I saw a tall older man standing across the room, arms wide open. He had orange hair with faint traces of gray that matched his neatly groomed goatee. His clothes were regal, a color scheme of oranges, yellows, and tans. But what made me freeze was the shining golden crown on his head.

Stella threw her arms around him, accepting his enormous hug. "I've missed you so much!" She said, smiling widely. "I have so much to tell you!"

"As have I, my princess." he replied. "But we have plenty of time to catch up. I know you're busy with planning your ball."

"The planning can wait a little while."

I was almost knocked back by this surprising side of Stella. I'd never seen her act so invested in another person besides herself and Brandon.

"And who is this?"

Stella's father's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Both royals were looking at me, Stella continuing to beam.

"Daddy, this is Bloom." she introduced. "Bloom, this is my dad –King Radius."

Unsure of what to do, I quickly did something that looked like a mix between a curtsey and a bow. "Your Majesty. I'm sorry; I would've dressed nicer if I had known I was going to be meeting you the second we got here."

Stella sent me a cheeky smirk when she saw me glare daggers at her. I felt ridiculous dressed in only a sweater and leggings. She hadn't allowed me to have ten minutes to do anything to make myself look presentable. I had barely any make up on, and the ponytail I had sloppily thrown my hair up into wasn't looking any better.

I made a note to kill her later.

"Don't be ridiculous!" he chided, chuckling loudly. "Bloom, you're like family to my Stella. And I want you to behave here in the palace as if you were in your very own home."

I opened my mouth to speak, but Stella laughed, interrupting me. "Oh, trust me, Daddy, no you don't."

She barely acknowledged my scoff of indignation.

"Daddy, I'm going to show Bloom around, so I'll meet up with you later!" she grinned, pulling me behind her as she ran off towards the exit.

"What about our suitcases?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder.

"We're in my palace, Bloom, do you honestly think that people aren't going to come and get it?"

I never believed Stella when she said that I would get lost if I was ever in her palace. However, I was proved immensely wrong.

I'd never been down so many halls, seen so many rooms. It seemed that every room that we went to was more luxurious and more magnificent than the last.

There was no way I could've acted like this palace was my very own home –mine was, literally, over a hundred rooms smaller.

"Now, before we get started with everything else, I want to make a quick stop here." Stella said, halting in front of two massive double doors.

"What is it?" I asked, curiously looking around the corridor we were standing in.

"It's my most favorite room when a party like this comes around." Taking a step back, she swung the doors open, a wide grin on her face. "The Gift Room!"

My jaw almost dropped to the ground as we walked in the room. Each wall was nearly hidden by the tall piles of presents. There had to have been hundreds, possibly thousands of gifts in the room, barely leaving any space for us to walk around in.

"There's so many of them!"

"One from each of my party guests." she nodded. "Well, except Musa. She said that since she was being required to show up, she shouldn't have to be required to give me a present."

"All of these are for _you_?"

"Yep! All for _moi_!" Recognizing my stunned reaction, she put her hands on her hips. "Oh, please, Bloom. Your Royal Treasure room on Sparx has more in it than this!"

"It's not _my _Royal Treasure room –it's Sparx's."

"That's not what Daphne said!"

"Well, Daphne's wrong."

Stella frowned, setting down the wrapped present in her hand. "Okay, what's up?"

I scrunched my brow, acting innocent. "What do you mean?"

She shot me a look.

Sighing, I leaned back against one of the stacks of presents. "I don't want it to be mine."

"Boo, that place was fabulous! Why would you _not _want that?"

A pang of sadness struck in my chest. "Because if it's all mine then that means I'm the only one left."

Her face fell, comprehending my implication. "Well, then think of it as . . . _temporarily _yours!" she said, trying to remain positive. "You know, like, it's yours until we find your parents."

"_If_ we find my parents."

"_When_ we find your parents."

I raised my brow.

Walking over to me, she put her hands on my shoulders. "You have a lot of negative energy right now, I know. But you have to hold on to the hope that they could still be out there."

"Why?"

A small smile crossed her face and she gave me a tiny shrug. "Because if we don't have hope, what do we have left?"

I stared at her, smiling slightly. I knew it was ridiculous of me to just assume that my parents were gone after all these years of wondering what happened to them. Assuming they were dead was simply easier than keeping my spirits up –which was becoming harder to do ever since the incident a few months ago.

"Besides," she said, "we're the Winx. We don't get to be sad; we've all got jobs to do."

I started nodding in agreement but then froze. "Did you just quote an Earth show?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't!" she laughed, going back to inspecting her gifts. "I can't deny that Earth has some pretty good TV shows that I like to steal my fabulous advice from.

"But you shouldn't give up on them so easily," Stella added. "It may seem hard, but in reality, you just need to go do it. You'll never do it if you don't start somewhere!"

"I don't even know where to start." I said, shaking my head. "There's no record of what happened during the battle; I've searched Alfea's library over a hundred times."

Stella picked up one of the boxes by me and started looking it over. "Well, you could always look in our library."

I perked up instantly. "You have a library?"

"Despite my lack of interest in anything with words, yes."

"Where is it?"

"Calm down, hot pants!" she said, laughing. "You are not going anywhere right now. You are going to stay here and help me with party details. If you're still this desperate tomorrow, I will personally draw up directions for you."

Reluctant, I crossed my arms, but didn't run out the door. "Fine. I will stay, but what are we even doing in here? You'll see all of these tomorrow!"

"I like to know how many presents I'm getting." she replied. "It gives me an idea of how long it'll take to open them all."

My eyes widened, slightly. "You calculated that math yourself?"

"After eighteen years of birthdays, I've learned that I can get through one-hundred and fifty presents per hour."

I could only blink at her, stunned by her selective mathematical ability and the number of presents she'd rattled off.

"I also like to know who got me things and who didn't." she continued.

"I didn't get you anything." I said, starting to feel guilty.

"You've been with me this whole time, when could you have? You have an excuse, and I wouldn't want one from you anyway."

"Why, because I'm a sucky gift picker?" I laughed.

She shook her head. "After Avalon kidnapped—"

"Stella."

"No, let me finish! After Avalon kidnapped you, I didn't care about anything else. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep –I was freaking out." Tears began to well up in her eyes. "When I heard Tecna say that she could see you were going into total darkness . . . I thought you were dead. The whole time I was on that ship, that's all I could think about, and every moment I blamed myself."

"Why would you blame yourself?" I asked, my voice strained some. "It's not like you were aligned with Darkar or anything."

"I brought you here, Bloom." she snapped, her tone becoming serious. "I'm the one who brought you to Magix two years ago; I'm the one who got you in the Trix's line of fire; I'm the one who walked right past you when you were with Avalon. Dammit, Bloom, I even _spoke_ to you two that day, not minutes before it happened! If anything happens to you . . ." she let out a noise that sounded like a mix between a cry and a laugh. "How could I not blame myself for that?"

I stayed silent, averting my eyes to my feet.

"To me, the thought of you being dead was worse than you being dark, because, if you were dark, you were at least there." she said, a tear falling down her cheek. "If you were there, that meant that there was still a chance. There was still hope that I could redeem myself for being the one who stood by and let it happen to you.

"You're my best friend, Bloom. Seeing you –_alive_— in Realix was the best present I could've gotten."

Immediately, I pulled her into a tight hug, squeezing my eyes shut to hold back my own tears.

As I've said before, none of us talked about the situation in Realix. We never even addressed a single moment of it on our way back to Alfea after destroying Darkar. Faragonda had tried to get us some kind of counseling (mostly me), but all of us had refused it. Seeing Stella divulge all that baggage, though, made me start to think we should've taken her up on the offer.

"Never do that to me again." she said, using a spell to fix her make-up. "I can't go through something like that twice."

I scoffed, laughing a little. "I'll make sure to try to not get kidnapped next time."

"You know that's not what I meant!" she exclaimed, laughing with me. "Can we just make a promise to not get so involved with people who may be evil, bloodthirsty criminals?"

I shrugged. "Do you think we can make that kind of promise with our track record?"

"We can _try_ –huge emphasis on the trying part."

Nodding, I scrunched my brow, acting as if the idea of avoiding dangerous people would be a piece of cake for us. "Oh, yeah, definitely."

The sound of footsteps entering the room suddenly echoed behind me.

"Hello, Stella."

Both of us looked towards the doorway to see a tall woman in an expensive-looking dress standing there. Her pale blonde hair was in a poofed out low-ponytail and her eyes were an odd shade of brown, almost appearing ginger in the light. The crown pinned her hair was sharp and triangular with a large emerald in the center that matched her large earrings and pendant necklace. What I couldn't help but stare at though was her face –her tanned cheekbones looking sharp enough to cut a rock in half.

"Who's this?" I asked, glancing between Stella and the woman.

"May I introduce, Countess Cassandra!" Stella said, smiling. "_Tré_ tragic fashion sense." she added as a whisper in my ear.

Looking back at the Countess, I wasn't sure if I should bow or curtsey or what. Swallowing my embarrassment, I waved. "Hi there."

_Nice going, Bloom. Settle for the stupidest response ever._

Cassandra only gave me a curt nod, making me want to bash my head against a wall.

"Countess, this is my best friend," Stella continued to introduce, "Princess Bloom of Sparx."

The royal's eyes widened slightly, recognizing the name. "Sparx?"

"Guilty," I said, laughing nervously.

"I thought everyone on Sparx perished?"

Slowly, I turned my gaze towards Stella, giving her a knowing look.

"You know what, keep your eyes to yourself." she muttered, pushing my head back to its original position. "As far as we know," Stella addressed Cassandra, "Bloom is the only survivor.

"But, onto happier news, will we be seeing you at the party tomorrow night?"

A pleasant smile appeared on Cassandra that had faint hints of strain. "I will be attending, as well as my daughter. In fact," she picked up a nearby unwrapped present, "this is the gift we got you."

Upon further inspection when it reached Stella's hands, it was a good-sized red velvet box. It was too large for a ring or a bracelet; my best guess being a necklace.

A blinding white light poured out of the box when she opened it, only giving me a second to see the beautiful necklace. It was a layered choker, strung with magenta crystals –the crystals being the source of the light.

"It's so pretty! And I'm sure it'll help me see in the dark if I'm ever without a flashlight!" She complimented as she closed it, unfazed by the brightness.

I covered my eyes with my hands, trying to block out the darkness that replaced my vision. "Why must your realm always try to blind me?"

"You're such a baby."

"My daughter chose it. She's in the Advanced Sorcery Program and world-renowned Beta Academy." Looking out the door for a moment, she beckoned someone forward. "Come say hello, Chimera."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. There was no way . . .

_The Chimera we know looks nothing like Cassandra, _I reassured myself. _And it's probably just a coincidence that this Chimera goes to the Beta Academy, too. It's totally possible that there are two girls named Chimera that go there!_

"Hello."

A flash of black hair and my assurances were instantly crushed.

The same girl from Magix stepped into the room, nervously smiling at us. Everything about her was identical to the last time we saw her.

Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I saw monstrous rage creep into Stella's normally sane features.

"_You_!" Stella growled, teeth clenched. "You're the _dress thief_!" She instantly charged Chimera, getting mere inches from her face.

"My, my, what a small world after all, Your Highness." Chimera said, referring to what Flora had said at the pizza joint yesterday.

"You locked me on a platform and stole my dress!"

"I don't understand." Cassandra said, confused and a bit terrified. "What's going on?"

"Well, Your Majesty, we all kind of ran into each other in Magix yesterday," I explained, "and, let's just say, they didn't exactly start off on the right foot."

"They didn't?"

I shook my head. "Yeah, no. No, none of us did. It was pretty bad. I'm pretty sure we're all banned from that pizza place now."

"I won that dress fair and square." Chimera claimed, continuing to play victim. "If it means that much to you, though, I'll gladly give you the dress right off my back."

I nearly fell over, taken aback by her statement. After that huge fight yesterday, she was just going to hand the dress over to Stella.

Stella was frozen in place, but still remained in Chimera's face.

"Stella?" I asked, unsure if she'd heard her.

I could almost see the steam begin to pour out of Stella's ears, furious. "_I will not wear your hand-me-downs to _my _Princess Ball! How dare you even suggest it?_"

Chimera's expression was full of anger when she heard Stella's answer, but instead of picking a fight, she surprisingly just turned around and stormed out of the room, muttering something under her breath about Stella being a 'pampered palace brat.'

Cassandra was right on her heels, the confusion on her face changing to something darker.

"That was a bit drastic, wasn't it?" I asked, ducking my head out the door to make sure they were gone.

"For who? Me or Dress Thief?"

I gave her a look.

"Okay, maybe." she huffed, crossing her arms. "I can't help it, though. I just hate her!"

"You don't have to justify yourself to me, I get it." I told her. "But, she _was _trying to be nice. I mean, I don't trust that bitch, but she was still trying to be nice."

"I don't care!" Stella shouted, angrily. "She dared to try and give me a dress she'd already bought!" She looked at me in disbelief. "Do I _look_ like I wear hand-me-down clothes, Bloom? Do I? _Do I_?"

"Calm down, Princess Meltdown!" I told her, flicking her in the cheek to snap her out of her psychosis. "It's just a dress!"

"It's not just a dress!

"Then why didn't you take it?"

"Don't question me, Bloom! Just don't!" Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she put a big smile back on her face. "Let's just forget about everything that just happened in the last ten minutes, okay?"

Hesitantly, I nodded. "Sure."

"Alright then! Let's go find your room!"

* * *

><p>Bright sunlight blinded me from behind my eyelids, ripping me from sleep. "Bloom! Wake! Up!" Stella's shrill voice pierced through the room. "We have places to go; people to see!"<p>

Squinting at the nightstand, I gave a tiny groan at the glowing numbers on my alarm clock. "It's dawn, Stella."

"Which means we only have so many hours till my party. Now get up!"

Ignoring her, I wrapped the blankets tighter around me. Two seconds later, they were torn away. In response, I merely curled up into a ball, snuggling into the pillow.

A small, magical tug suddenly lifted me in the air and dropped me onto the floor.

"What the hell!" I yelled, refusing to stand up. "It's not my party, why do I have to suffer?"

"Now, I have three dresses for the events." she declared, using her magic to toss things out of her closet and onto the floor.

As she kept rambling on and on about what she planned to wear, I glanced over at the growing pile of clothes. Tuning her out completely, I crawled over to the pile and climbed on top of it, trying to fall back asleep.

"So, what do you think?"

I could suddenly feel her gaze burning into my back. I gave her a simple thumbs up.

* * *

><p>An hour later, after Stella had dragged me across the majority of the room to get ready, I was standing outside my bedroom, preparing to find the library Stella had told me about. She'd surprisingly kept to her word, handing me a folded up piece of paper with directions that led straight to my destination, saying that she would meet me there when she was done getting her nails done.<p>

"Alright," I muttered, unfolding the piece of paper. "_Go right until you reach the staircase in the main hall_. That sound easy enough." Following Stella's directions, I turned right down the brightly lit hallway.

It was surprisingly quiet in this part of the palace. Everywhere else was constantly filled with bustling servants preparing for the party. The silence in the palace was refreshing, and I'd only been there one day.

I was confident in Stella's directions, considering she was, well, Stella. Surely, the princess who's lived in the castle for eighteen years could make comprehensible directions.

And then the hallway split like a fork in the road.

"Okay, so I need to take a . . ." I squinted at the paper, trying to decipher Stella's loopy cursive handwriting, "_left_? Or is that a right?"

Smoothing out one of the crinkles in the paper, I shifted it to different angles, hoping a certain amount of light would reveal what word I was reading.

"Still nothing." I sighed, shoulders slumping. Crumpling the paper up into a wad, I threw it over my shoulder. "That is the last time I ever take directions from Stella."

Once again, I looked at my options. Both hallways were identical, making neither the better choice. Silently praying that I would pick the right hall, I took a right.

The deeper I went in the castle, the more lost I became. I wanted to strangle the architect for putting in so many twists and turns in the castle. I'd lost count of how many dead ends I'd encountered or crossed corridor that split into two (sometimes _three_!) other corridors. I was seriously considering finding Stella and dragging her away from the nail salon to show me the stupid library herself.

Turning the closest corner, an enormous staircase came into view. It went clear up to the second floor with a landing to break it off in the center, up by a large window. The second half of the staircase went adjacent to the first, going up the left side of wall and effectively blocking my view.

"So it _was_ a right."

Trudging over to the foot of the stairs, I groaned at the amount of steps. "If I'd known I was going to be walking up Mt. Everest, I would've worn shoes that didn't have heels." Looking up to the very top, I tried to see if anyone was there. I didn't particularly want to go up two flights of stairs, but it appeared that I had no other choice.

With a sigh, I walked up the first flight, cursing Stella's name with each step. It wasn't a very large first flight, but it was enough to make me sick of stairs by the time I was done.

"There has to be _someone_ in this place!" I groaned, staring down at the courtyard from my spot at the window. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of servants were milling about on the ground, hastily preparing for Stella's ball. "Of course," I rolled my eyes, "they're all _outside_.

"Might as well check upstairs anyway," I mumbled, dragging my feet up the next flight. "Because, you know, _why the hell not_!"

The second floor seemed to mimic the floor –completely empty.

I didn't pretend to act surprised.

Approaching the closest corridor, I peeked around the corner to see if anyone was hiding in any of the shadows; it was still bare.

Huffing in annoyance, I leaned back against the railing of the staircase. How was it possible that every single servant was outside tending to these party details? What all could Stella possibly need to decorate that ballroom?

My ears suddenly perked as a woman's voice floated up from the bottom floor. I couldn't be sure whether or not it was Stella's, but I leapt at the opportunity to talk to _anyone_.

"Yo, Stell!" I shouted, hurrying down the stairs to meet her. "Your directions were crap! Now where the hell is the libra—?"

I froze the second I reached the landing, eyes meeting Countess Cassandra and Chimera's. Immediately, I straightened up, attempting to not look as disheveled as I looked. "My bad. I thought you were Stella."

The two said nothing, but walked past me instead, noses high in the air. My eyes followed them suspiciously, wondering what they were doing so far from their suites.

Chimera's dark blue eyes glared into mine, desperately trying to intimidate me. I glared right back at her, topping her intensity.

Then I promptly ran into the man behind her.

Colliding into the man's chest, I nearly fell over, losing my balance. I was sure I was going to hit the floor, but the man grabbed my waist, re-steadying me on my feet before I collapsed.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized, laughing from embarrassment. "I wasn't looking where I wasn't—"

I couldn't help but stare.

His eyes were ice blue, nearly grey, but cold enough to cause a chill to prickle my spine. Red-blonde hair covered his head, falling down his back, over the long, high-collared, burgundy coat he was wearing. His face was made up of angles that otherwise would look odd; however, on him, it only increased his allure. He was almost a foot taller than me, making me feel smaller than I already was, while he walked past me. His sharp features gave off an air of maturity and regality, his presence feeling much more superior to Cassandra and Chimera.

"I'm_ so _sorry," I repeated, trying to hide the red in my cheeks. I took a quick step back, pulling away from him when I felt that half of his grip had accidentally slipped underneath my too short t-shirt.

Keeping my eyes low, I started walking away, wanting to get as far away as possible from whatever the Countess was doing –and that guy I'd just humiliated myself in front of. Barely going three steps, my wrist was caught in a firm grip, pulling me back to the center of the landing.

Ready to punch whoever had grabbed me, I glanced down to see a gloved hand. Looking up, my gaze was met with a pair of grey eyes that, despite their lack of color, seemed to pierce my soul.

"Go down the hall on your left and go up the first flight of stairs you see." the man in the burgundy coat said, his voice as deep and melodious as I pictured.

"What are you—?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.

"The library." A smirk tugged at his lips that for some reason made my heart skip a beat. "That's what you were looking for, was it not?"

Hesitant, I nodded. "Y-Yeah, it was."

I noticed his eyes hadn't left mine for a second, and his hand was still locked around my wrist. For whatever reason, the more I looked into his eyes, the more entranced I felt.

I gently pulled my wrist out of his grasp, nervously laughing. "Thanks for the . . . you know, the directions."

Before he could open his mouth to speak, I turned and quickly rushed down the stairs.

* * *

><p><em>And this is where I begin to screw with everything canon!<em>

_As you read, there were a few plot points that I tweaked a bit (even plot points from season two, as you could see in Stella's elaborate monologue when she referred to Tecna saying Bloom was going into total darkness instead of Lockette). Plus, I couldn't not add the scene where Stella practically throws Bloom out of bed. It was just too perfect of an opportunity that I barely had to change to keep the characterization I'm wanting._

_Welcome back to the magical world that is Bloom-Needs-to Stop-Writing-Things-That-Do-Not-Pertain-to-This-Story-Whatsoever-And-Needs-to-Focus-On-This-One-More Land! Honestly, I had the majority of this chapter finished about a week ago, but I was too lazy to finish the details, so I started working on other stories that I most definitely did not need to be working on because they'll never see the light of day anyway. BUT I WROTE THEM ANYWAY AND I REGRET NOTHING._

_Also: Do you know what TV show Stella was quoting from that was mentioned earlier in the chapter? If you can, leave it in your review and I will give you a shout-out in the next chapter which will be posted in a few weeks! Oh, and I'm considering changing the title of this; I'm still a bit iffy. If I do, I will definitely warn everyone before I do!_

_Now, I shall begin the process of piecing together Chapter 4 for all of you lovelies! And, I feel pathetic asking you all to review, but please do! Each and every one of them motivate me to write faster, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something right, so please, please, please, review!_

_~Bloom_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The library was the biggest room I'd seen yet, almost double –maybe triple—the size of the others. It surprisingly reminded me of something out of the Harry Potter universe, massive high walls and bookshelves reaching close to the ceiling. I'd never felt smaller in my life. Sunlight poured in through the large windows on the outside wall, proving to be the only source of light. Part of me wondered if Stella had ever even been in this library. We'd always had to drag her into the one at Alfea during finals.

There was no sense of direction whatsoever; no magic catalog, no signs, no anything. How anyone found books in this place was beyond me.

Leaning back against the bookcase, I sighed, running a hand through my hair. My mind went back to my embarrassing moment on the staircase not ten minutes earlier. I'd never seen that guy before in my life, but something inside me was just . . . _drawn to him_. I didn't know why, and I'm certain I wasn't supposed to like that I was, in fact, drawn to him.

Why was I thinking about him? I was dating Sky; I shouldn't be thinking about some guy I ran into. Although, my relationship with Sky was a whole other issue itself. What I had told Flora yesterday was only half of our problem.

I was still recovering from the Realix thing. I didn't want to admit it, but I was. And Sky wasn't thrilled with how I was 'taking my sweet time' with getting back to my old self. He constantly complained about how it was hard for him because I was shutting him out, and that he thought that in the future it might be good for us to separate for a while if I hadn't snapped out of it. Granted, I was shutting him out some, but, nowadays, I was shutting a lot of people out. The girls gave me the space I needed though. With Sky, he was constantly hovering, acting like I can't protect myself from anything. Who wouldn't need space from that?

Nothing was set in stone, but just to hear him say something like that was enough to sting.

It wasn't like I'd planned for it to take this long to get back to normal. Recovering from what I'd been through wasn't exactly the easiest trip in the world. If I had a choice in the matter, I would've kicked it the second I broke free from the curse and returned to normal.

But silly things like that only happened in cartoons.

A persistent ticking noise reverberated through the library. Turning my gaze to the far wall, I caught sight of a large grandfather clock reading the time of 10:57. I vaguely remembered Stella saying she would come meet me here around noon; I had plenty of time to find some kind of text on Sparx in this godforsaken library.

Or get hopelessly lost.

Either way.

Thinking of Stella and the Princess Ball that was only hours away, I felt a twinge of jealousy.

Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic for Stella. The moment I saw her reaction to the news, her eyes shining with joy, I could tell that a Princess Ball was something she'd dreamed about all her life.

But, I couldn't help but envy Stella. This was her life –full of royals, and parties, and fancy gowns. Essentially, it was a life that every princess had.

A life that I would most likely never have.

I was a princess, technically. I had royal blood, yes, but that was it. All I had to my name was a title and powers I could barely control. And with the limited possibility of me finding my birth parents, it seemed that that was all I would ever have.

I would never have a Princess Ball.

I would never officially be the Princess of Sparx.

I would never have this kind of life.

Shaking my head, I tried to rid myself of those thoughts. I wasn't here to wallow in self pity; I was here for answers.

And I was going to find some.

* * *

><p>I found nothing.<p>

I'd searched every nook and cranny of the library, and there was not a single book on Sparx anywhere.

"Sparx and Solaria were, like, strong allies!" I whisper-yelled to myself. "How could there not be anything here on its allied planet?"

I came to a sudden halt when a booming thud replied.

Cautious that I may not really be alone, I slowly turned around. On the floor a few yards away, was a massive book, dust particles floating off of its cover from its intense impact. Through the empty slots in the bookshelves around me, the sun shone directly onto the cover, revealing a title that instantly made me wary.

_Sparx: a History_

My eyes scanned the bookshelves around me. Slightly terrified, I peered around the corners behind me, making sure that no one was in the close vicinity. The air was dead; I was still alone.

Where did this come from?

My gaze fell to the fallen book again. Every logical part of my brain told me to forget about it and leave, but the other parts screamed to pick the book up.

Unable to restrain myself, I sat down next to it and grabbed it.

In spite of how massively thick the book was, it oddly didn't contain much; in fact, there was barely anything at all on the destruction of Sparx. The only information it gave me, I already knew from what I'd heard from Daphne or Faragonda.

So, yeah, not a lot.

The author had only listed the events that most people in the Dimension had known since the attack happened. It vaguely detailed the Ancestresses' plans to attack Sparx, the attack itself, and the eternal winter cast on the planet.

I was about to give up on the book entirely, and move on, but something stirred inside me. I wasn't sure what it was, but something wanted me to turn the page.

Hesitantly flipping to the next chapter, my eyes flitted across the title.

_The Ancestresses' Apprentice_

My Fire sparked in my chest, feeling almost enraged. No one I'd ever talked to about Sparx ever mentioned anything like him. Just from the first page, I could gather that he played an essential part to Sparx's destruction.

So why was I never told about him?

A loud, booming noise made me jump a foot in the air, dragging me out of my thoughts.

I was prepared to beat someone with the book in my hands, until I realized that it was the large grandfather clock on the far wall, alerting the non-existent people that it was noon. Slumping against the bookcase, I tried to slow my heart before it burst from my chest.

Looking down at the large tome, I decided that I'd have to read up on this mysterious apprentice later. If I'd already wasted a couple hours in here, Stella was sure to track me down like a bloodhound sooner or later. Reaching up to shove the book back on the shelf, I paused in thought.

When I go back to meet up with Stella, there's no way that I'd ever have time to come back here. I'd be too caught up in the Princess Ball, I wouldn't have the chance. After tonight, I'd be on my way to Earth, never to see this book again.

I glanced over shoulders, making certain that no one else was in the library with me. Then, ever so slowly, I pulled the book back down to my chest. I'm sure no one would miss one little book . . .

Quickly making my way back out of the library (and getting lost about twice), I tried to shut the huge door as quietly as I possibly could with one hand. I was golden, until the lock clicked loudly, echoing through the hall. I waited for a few minutes, hoping that it hadn't drawn any attention from the guards.

Sure that I was alone, I breathed a sigh of relief and started up the corridor, opening the book again. Flipping open to the chapter on the Ancestresses' Apprentice, my eyes devoured the page, wanting to know as much as I possibly could on this guy. He may have worked against my realm, but if he was alive, there was a chance that he knew what happened to my parents.

"Come on, give me a name," I muttered to myself. "What's his name?"

Scouring the words, my eyes came across a single, smudged word. From the damage that had been done to it, it was practically illegible. Someone definitely didn't want people finding this guy's name.

If the Ancestresses' names were still recorded, but his wasn't what did that mean?

Was the Apprentice really that much worse than them?

"Am I interrupting?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the voice behind me and spun around. The man from the staircase stood there, smirking at my reaction to his intrusion.

I glanced down at the old pages then back up at him, trying to hide the embarrassment on my face. "N-No, of course not," I stammered, not wanting to be insulting. "I was just distracted, that's all. We ran into each other earlier, didn't we? On the staircase?" I quickly changed the subject, closing the book and keeping the cover pressed into my stomach. I had gotten this far in taking it; I wasn't going to let this guy ruin it.

No matter how attractive he was.

"Briefly, yes." he said, moving towards me. He had the same smirk on his face that he'd had before, warning me he _definitely _remembered it. "I recall you running into me on that staircase about an hour ago."

My cheeks burned, furiously. "Yeah, that was my bad." I laughed, nervously. "I was born with two left feet." Casually looking around, I tried to see if there was anyone else in the hall, but we were completely alone, making me cautious.

"Cassandra said you're a friend of the Princess," he said, his eyes never leaving mine. I caught a curious glint in them, making me a little uneasy.

"Best friend," I elucidated with a nod. "I'm the official helper for her Princess Ball."

"And yet here you are, on the other side of the castle."

I paused, suspicious. "I was just looking for something."

He nodded towards the book in my hand, making me tense. "The book, I suppose?"

I simply nodded, trying to keep a pleasant smile on my face. "Stella said I could come up here and look around."

"So you're stealing the book."

My jaw dropped, stunned by his accusation. "I am _not _stealing the book!" I exclaimed. "I'm just borrowing it for some . . . light reading."

He snatched the book out of my grasp and examined it before I could react. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the title, but quickly re-composed himself. "Do you often read _Sparx: a History_ for 'light reading?'"

I crossed my arms, defensively. "How do you know that's not mine?"

He flipped the book open to the back cover, displaying a brightly glowing symbol of the sun of Solaria. "If you want to be sneaky about stealing something, darling," he said, "don't make it apparent that the thing isn't yours."

I didn't speak for a moment, repeatedly opening and closing my mouth as I tried to find words. "Okay, it's not mine, exactly."

"So, you stole it." he smirked, shutting the book.

"Borrowed without permission."

"You're not a very good thief. You're almost as bad as one of those Trix girls I keep hearing about."

My face fell into an annoyed smile. "I don't think I'm as bad as a convicted criminal."

"And you would know this?"

Images of the Trix and Darkar popped into my head, but I quickly brushed them away. "Yes, I would. In fact, they're quite annoying, not unlike yourself." I said, grabbing my book back.

He feigned a hurt expression. "Annoying, princess? Might you know, most people find me to be charming."

"I'm not like most people." I told him, refusing to acknowledge how I actually did.

His familiar smirk returned. "So, I can see.

"I would assume you're attending the Ball tonight, then?" he continued after a minute or so of silence.

"Well, I am Stella's best friend, so I'm required to," I answered, tapping my thumb along the spine of the book. "I know nothing about princess balls, though."

"You've never been to one before?"

I furrowed my brow, confused by his puzzled glance. "No, I haven't. Why are you so surprised?"

He slightly shrugged. "You're about eighteen, aren't you? I figured you would have had one by now."

I felt a sting in my gut, the small flare of jealousy that I had been keeping down all morning sparking again. "No," I muttered, averting my eyes to the floor. "I'm technically not a princess, so I won't be getting one any time soon."

"Trouble in familial paradise?"

Despite how unrealistically accurate his statement was, I laughed. "You have no idea."

He paused, coming to a stop a few feet away from me. "I wouldn't want to pry," he said, making me tense, "but how does one become a technical princess?"

"Long story," I replied. "It's very boring."

"The ball doesn't start for a few hours." He leaned in close to my face. "And I am incredibly intrigued."

My heart fluttered in my chest at his proximity. Something was definitely off about this guy, but part of me couldn't deny how I was dangerously attracted to it.

Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I felt my cheeks heat up. "I need to get going," I murmured. "I may not be fond of going to the party, but I need to start getting ready before Stella hunts me down."

"You know, it'd be much easier to leave if you weren't constantly flirting with me."

My eyes widened slightly. "_I'm_ flirting with _you_? I am _not_ flirting with you!"

"Then why haven't you pushed me away?"

Noticing how close we actually were, I quickly took a step back. Heat rose to my cheeks, embarrassed that I'd let my emotions get the best of me.

"I am not flirting with you." I reiterated, averting my gaze, and tucking a chunk of hair behind my ear.

The man had a triumphant smirk on his face, glad to know he'd affected me that much. "If you insist, princess." he relented.

"I'm not a princess."

"I have no other name to call you by."

"Well, aren't you being Mr. Subtle." I remarked, an idea sparking in my head. "But, I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you my name whenever you tell me yours. And since you've been sneaking around the palace, I don't think you'll be fulfilling your end of that bargain any time soon."

He remained quiet, silently stunned by my insinuation.

Giving him a triumphant smirk of my own, I waved my fingers at him before stepping around him and heading back to my room.

* * *

><p>"How much longer is this going to take?" I asked, flinching as Stella pulled the strings tighter.<p>

"Don't be such a wimp." she chided. "It's just a couple of strings."

"Pain-inducing strings!"

I couldn't see her face, but I knew she rolled her eyes.

"You had to wear these on a daily basis when you were a kid?"

"Yep. Every single day." she confirmed. "Corsets aren't really that bad once you get used to them."

"You mean after you pass out?"

Stella jerked on the strings again, the heat of her glare burning into the back of my head.

When I'd returned to my room and quickly hidden the book in one of my suitcases, Stella surprised me with an impromptu visit.

As well as her entire formal wardrobe.

I was immediately dragged into Stella's bizarre world of fashion, forced to try on every dress she deemed 'perfect' for me.

Unfortunately, the one we'd compromised on was a size too small for me thanks to Stella's microscopic waist (_Damn you, Stella_!). I suggested another dress, while she had a much more _medieval_ form of getting her way.

"There!" she announced with one final tug. "All done! Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I'm pretty sure my intestines are being forced up my throat." I told her, releasing my death grip on the bedpost.

"Can you not be so crude all the time? You've been spending too much time with Musa."

"It's not like I'm here to impress anyone."

"In spite of being in a relationship, you still have to look desirable." she said, helping me get the enormous dress on. "I have a reputation to keep up, and if you don't make me look good, I swear to Arcadia I will end you."

It was my turn to roll my eyes, holding up the dress's bodice while Stella finished lacing up the back. "You'll have to find Flora and the others on your own." Stella reminded me. "I'm trusting that you can at least find the front doors to reach the ship landing?"

"I know where the front doors are, Stell!"

"Okay, okay! Calm your 'tude before you set my masterpiece on fire!"

I laughed in disbelief. "I'm your 'masterpiece?'"

"Tonight -yes." Pushing me to the center of the room, she began to circle me like a vulture, examining for any flaws. "I told all of you that it's required that you all must look _almost_ as hot as me."

"But I'm the only one here for you to torture." I pointed out as she rearranged my skirt. "You don't exactly have control over what they show up in."

"_Au contraire_, my redheaded friend," Stella laughed, evilly. "I sent them hand-picked dresses yesterday, along with a note threatening them to wear them."

"That's a bit excessive." I remarked. "You do realize Musa most likely ripped that note to shreds, right?"

She audibly sighed. "I know. She's such a tomboy; it's annoying!"

"Not everyone can be as girly as you." I responded, laughing quietly.

"But it's so much easier when they are!"

Taking a step back, Stella looked me up and down, admiring her work. She tapped her finger on her chin, squinting her eyes. "Something's missing."

My eyes widened. "There's not enough already?"

She shook her head.

Snapping her fingers suddenly, she ran across the room and grabbed something. She hid it behind her back when she came over to me again. "Turn around."

I looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

She groaned in frustration. "Just bend your head down -slightly!" she immediately added.

Doing what she said, I felt something lightweight be placed in my hair, Stella's fingers quickly securing it before I lifted my head.

Taking me by the shoulders, she placed me in front of the nearest mirror. "Surprise!"

My jaw dropped.

Pinned in my hair was a dainty, glass crown. A dark red gem was planted in the center of its front, small, but large enough to catch an eye. Not a single scratch was on its surface, completely untouched from the damage it'd endured.

The Ember Tiara.

"Oh, my God . . ." I whispered, dumbstruck. "Stella, where did you get this? How did you even _find _it?"

It had been years since I'd seen it. During our trip to Sparx to search for the Dragon Fire a few years back, I remembered seeing it, even holding it in my hands. Daphne (or at least ethereal Daphne) had told me that it would've been mine if the Fates hadn't had something else in mind. I'd planned to take it with us on the trip back, but I'd dropped it somewhere in the palace while we were running (and flying) away from the ice crabs.

"Don't worry about how I got it. I just figured that you should wear _your_ tiara to your first Princess Ball."

Tears unwillingly brimmed my eyes.

"Don't you dare cry!" she ordered, swatting my arm. "I worked too hard on your make-up for you to screw it up! And don't touch it either, because if you do, you'll screw up your hair and I will kill you. Your hair is the definition of a piece of work to straighten."

"I can't help it. This corset is squeezing the tears out of my eyes."

She promptly smacked my arm again, laughing at my pain. "But you look fabulous, so the pain is worth it!"

Despite my dislike for dresses, I had to admit that the one Stella had picked out was gorgeous. She'd tried to force me into something else, but I told her that if the dress wasn't blue then I wasn't wearing it. And, since Stella wasn't a particular fan of blue ("It's depressing and it's sad! Why would I want to wear a color like that?"), she only had the one. It was the largest dress I'd ever worn in my life, and with the strapless corset top, I was beginning to feel self-conscious. The bodice was denim colored, and covered in ruffles, with a large bow that fell down the front of the skirt. The wide skirt was a stone blue made fuller with another, lightweight skirt beneath it that matched the top.

"Eh," I shrugged. "I don't think so."

"Uh huh, sure," she said, picking up a mask off the bed. "Turn around before I hit you again."

I didn't know if the dress and the mask were supposed to go together, but if they weren't, Stella had done one amazing job with her color coordination. The mask was in the shape of a butterfly (Whether it was meant to be a pun, I wasn't sure.) and made completely out of black lace that faded out to the same denim color on the dress when it reached the wings.

"Alright, you're good!" Stella proudly announced, looking me up and down to marvel her work. "You need to let me make you up every day."

"Hell no, I would die!" I protested, awkwardly stepping in the heels she'd forced me in. "My feet are already killing me!"

"Fine, be lame! But be lame outside, the others will be here soon!"

Walking over to the door, I nearly lost my balance and fell against the door to catch myself. I shot a glare over to Stella, but she just shook her head at my clumsiness.

"If you don't see me at the party, it's because I snapped my ankle trying to walk down the stairs."

"Quit whining and go!"

Shutting the door behind me as I practically tripped into the hallway, I started to make my way to the front entrance. The longer I walked, though, the more uneasy I felt.

Things were going too well.

I should've been relieved to have some peace, but relief was anything but what I felt. I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen tonight. And that, for once, that bad thing wasn't going to happen to me.

* * *

><p><em>Ugh! Finally, it's done! I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to have this damn chapter out of the way! I struggled a lot with the beginning, and I am so glad that I managed to get it out of the way today despite all of the stress that's been on my shoulders this past week. As some of you know, this was supposed to go up this past Sunday, but things got a little out of control that Saturday that left me a bit emotionally unstable (there was a big rant I made about it on tumblr, things got really intense, but what's online is as far as I will go into it online because it's very personal) so I took Sunday to focus on me, so I could un-tense per se. <em>

_But that's in the past! Since I made you all wait so long for this chapter, the Christmas fairy is going to come early and leave you the lovely present of Chapter 5 this weekend! There are a few kinks left in it to work out, but other than that it is complete and ready to post, so merry early Christmas to you guys! It's one of my favorite chapters to date, and there's possibly a mini disaster that leads to shedding a little light on some darkness (hint, hint!)._

_I'd also like to give a shoutout to Saline Press who left a review in the last chapter, with the correct guess of what Stella's quote was from! _The Walking Dead_ is one of my favorite shows, and all I have to say is RIP Beth!_

_And remember, reviews are much appreciated and are the lifeblood of authors, so please do type up some pretty little words in the box below, and I will see you in the next chapter!_

_~Bloom_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Bright colors of orange, yellow, and pink adorned every drapery, column, and banister in Solaria's grand ballroom. Tables lined the walls, covered in cakes and other sweets, so many I lost count after about thirty. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of royals waltzed around the ballroom, laughing and drinking in celebration, certainly enjoying the masquerade theme.

"How much longer is this?"

I bit back a smirk, recognizing Musa's familiar groan. "It's been fifteen minutes since you asked," I glanced, "and the party started fifteen minutes ago."

Flora giggled, hearing Musa once again groan.

"Can't you just knock me out with a sleeping spell until it's over?" the musician begged.

"Just give it an hour or so," I'm sure they'll fix the ship."

Flora frowned, pouting at what I'd said. "I can't believe Helia's ship broke down."

"It's not that bad." I assured, straightening the skirt of my dress.

"You can't say crap, Bloom!" Musa snapped. "Your boyfriend's actually here, so shut up!"

That was one way of putting it. He was in the building, yes, but standing next to me? No. Sky, unlike me, was a crowd pleaser. Being raised on Eraklyon taught him well on how to be the perfect, dazzling prince he was. While I moped in the corner away from everyone, he was off with Brandon somewhere, talking up the room.

"Shouldn't you be over there with him?" Flora asked, skeptically.

I shrugged. "Probably. But, what's the point when no royal wants to acknowledge an Earth girl?"

She gave me a doubtful look, but said nothing. As much as she wanted to prove me wrong, she couldn't.

Sparx used to be the most powerful realm in the Magic Dimension; however, with the planet encased in a sheet of ice and the only survivor being a seventeen-year-old who just discovered she had enough power to destroy the realms; most weren't jumping at the chance to meet me.

"Besides, probably half the people here have already heard about the Realix–."

"Musa!" Flora scolded, slapping her arm.

"Well, it's not like she's wrong." I pitifully agreed, catching the stink eye from a nearby nobleman.

"They just haven't met you yet." Flora suggested. _This is not a Michael Buble song, Flora, _I commented in my head. "I'm sure if they talked to you then they'd love you.

"We're going to go look for Tecna before she explodes from too much human interaction." she said, forcing Musa to follow her into the crowd. "Come find us when you're ready, okay?"

I barely got the chance to nod before they disappeared from sight.

Being alone was something I'd grown accustomed to over the years. I was an only child in Gardenia who wasn't very good at befriending others, so besides spending time with my parents, I spent a good chunk of my free time with Kiko. And a rabbit who likes to chew on clothes isn't exactly the best friend to have.

I had a small group of friends on Earth (which regretfully included Mitzi for a short period of time) that consisted of mostly guys. Andy, Mark, and Rio were great, but things started to get a bit tense between us after their band signed a record deal the summer before our freshmen year. All three decided that music was more important to them, so they dropped out to focus on their career. I was left to suffer alone in Gardenia while they toured all over the country.

"You're from Earth?"

Jumping a little, I saw the man in the burgundy coat appear beside me. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked him with a glare. "Do you always greet people by appearing out of nowhere?"

"Only for you, princess." he smirked, clearly enjoying himself.

"Technical princess."

"Which leads me back to my original inquiry: you're from Earth?"

"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop." I replied, crossing my arms.

He didn't deny it, coming so close that our shoulders were almost touching. "My question still stands, technical princess."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "I grew up on Earth for the first sixteen years of my life, okay? Are you satisfied?"

"A fairy raised on Earth?" he repeated, doubtfully.

"You don't believe me?"

"Of course. I've seen how clumsy you are. I'm just a little surprised. If you were on Earth, how did you manage to become 'technical' royalty?"

I bit my lip, averting my gaze to the couples on the dance floor. "My sister put me in a portal and sent me away when I was a baby."

He paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Were you _that_ annoying?"

In spite of his stab, I laughed. "Well, I was only a few days old, so, probably."

For a moment, I suddenly snapped back into my insecurity. Why was I talking to this guy again? For all I knew, he could be some creep hellbent on trying to destroy the realms. And, with my luck, that was a very real possibility. So why was I divulging all this information to him so easily?

"Why are you still here?" I inquired, re-directing his attention to something other than my past.

"Can't a man enjoy local festivities?"

"Not when said man isn't local and clearly has an ulterior motive."

A smirk crossed his face. "I have an ulterior motive?"

I nodded.

"Do elaborate."

Glancing up at him, our eyes locked. Even with his grey eyes, they swam with emotions beneath his black mask. But there was a mysterious glint shining in them as well that sparked a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Me."

He was momentarily stunned, but quickly composed himself before I could blink.

"Your ulterior motive is me."

His smirk morphed into an amused grin. "What makes you think that?"

"Besides the fact that you tracked me down in a room full of masked people?"

Suddenly, he began toying with a piece of my hair, twirling the red strands around his finger. "Your hair is rather memorable."

I narrowed my gaze. "You're avoiding my question."

"As you avoided mine." he retorted. "So, I'll make you a deal: I'll give you my answer, when you give me yours."

I narrowed my gaze at him, recognizing his words. "Or," I started to suggest, "we could save time and change topics."

He gave me a look, but relented. "If that's what you wish."

"Great. Let's."

The man glanced across the ballroom, then looked back at me. "Shouldn't you be latched on the arm of your beloved prince?"

My eyes widened; his question catching me off guard. "Excuse me?"

"Your fanboy, Prince Sky of Eraklyon. The blonde boy who keeps glaring in our direction."

Looking across the room, I managed to see Sky in his regal blue and red attire, practically shooting ice out of his eyes at him.

My cheeks flushed from embarrassment and I tucked the piece of hair he'd been playing with behind my ear. "He's fine."

"You're his girlfriend, are you not?" He leaned in a bit closer to my face, ignoring the prince glaring at us. "Having relationship issues, are we?"

"We are fine." I clarified, taking a step to the side to put some distance between us. "We're very happy, mind you."

"Then why aren't you over there?" he repeated. "And don't say it's because the others don't 'accept' you. Even if they didn't, you'd still be over there with him."

Frustrated, I sighed. "We're just trying to keep things low key." I half-lied. "His parents want him back with his ex-fianceé because, according to his mother, I'm not fit to run a kingdom due to my lack of experience." I paused. "And, of course, he's a bit of a jackass."

"That's a bit passive for someone like you."

"Someone like me?" I quirked an eyebrow, slightly offended.

"As fiery as you are, I'd have thought you would be much more hostile towards a remark like that."

Pushing myself off the wall, I pretended to brush dust off my skirt, uncomfortable with the depth he was taking on. "Well, I should go find my friends before Stella makes her big entrance."

He could tell I was uncomfortable with the territory he was trying to cross into; but nodded. "Of course, I wouldn't want to make the technical princess late."

In that moment, for some godforsaken reason, a part of me didn't want to leave. I knew Flora and the others were probably wondering where I was, but I wanted to stay. There was a strange pull, almost like a connection, I felt with him that I'd never experienced with anyone else.

Quickly, I turned away and started making my way towards Sky and the others. My stomach churned uncomfortably, but I was unable to figure just what I was feeling.

Why was I so attracted to this guy?

Stopping to glance back at him, I was stunned to see he was already gone –as if he'd never been there.

Maybe I was the only one of us who felt it, after all.

"Bloom!" Flora exclaimed, welcoming me back to the group. "What took you so long?"

"Nothing," I lied. "I just got distracted, that's all." Well, it was technically not a lie.

"Well, I suggest you snap out of it soon, Daisy Daydream." Musa remarked, still snippy from the lack of Riven-ness. "Our _beloved Princess_ is about to make her grand debut."

Nodding, I directed my attention to the staircase; large red curtains covered the entryway, meaning there was still a little time left before she appeared.

"So, who were you talking to back there?"

Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sky had sidled up next to me. "Just some guy I met earlier."

He nodded, but didn't appear any more pleased. "You two were looking fairly close."

I set my jaw, digging my nails into my palms to prevent from rolling my eyes. "So were you and the Princess of Vallisto. How ironic."

He didn't hold back from rolling his eyes. "Are we really going to have this fight here?"

"You started it, I'm just finishing it."

Sky let out a prominent sigh and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "I know you're going through a tough time, Bloom. I get it; I saw you in Realix I'd be pretty messed up, too." I shot him a side glare. "But whatever you're going through isn't affecting just you."

"I just need some time."

"It's been _three months_, Bloom!" Immediately, he lowered his voice; seeing as multiple people around us began to stare. "How much more time could you possibly need?"

White-hot anger engulfed my heart and a dangerous fluttering appeared deep in my chest. "I don't know, Sky," I said, my voice dark and calm. "Why don't you have a dark force overpower your soul and see how long it takes for you to bounce back?"

I stormed off, not bothering to gauge his reaction. How could he honestly expect me to react any differently? Was I supposed to remain calm in regard towards a question that was clearly out of line?

"What was happening over there?" Tecna asked when I approached them.

"Nothing," I replied, not meaning for it to sound as snippy as it did.

"Girl, I have sonar hearing," Musa refuted. "If you call that nothing, I think we need to redefine the word for you."

Musa wasn't particularly subtle in her feelings towards Sky. To be blunt, she hated his very existence. It wasn't his royal status that bothered her, but just him in general –his personality, his voice, his _face_. When she first met him during our freshmen year, she was alright with him. However, after the Day of the Royals, her hatred for him was born.

She was angry at Brandon for a while, but he hadn't done anything else to infuriate her. Sky, on the other hand, and our constant fights about Diaspro and his family, was what fueled her anger towards him. She couldn't understand why Sky insisted on turning a blind eye while his parents walked all over me in front of him, and why he indulged them whenever they asked him to be seen out in public with his ex-fianceé.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why _I_ didn't hate Sky.

I had plenty reason to –the lying, the public cheating, his hypocrisy. I had been subject to all of them. Of all the people who should lash out at Sky, it shouldn't be Musa.

It should be me.

My hands started to shake uncontrollably, catching the girls' attention. They barely seemed to take notice of it, until it started to work its way through my extremities, until my entire body was trembling. An agonizing throbbing erupted throughout my skull, like something in my head was trying to claw its way out.

Or some_one_.

"Bloom?"

A sharp pain sparked in my eyes, like a knife flicking across them. They burned for a few moments, but it quickly dissipated. Instead, the pain shifted back to my head, the scratching sensation intensifying.

"You okay?" Flora asked, eyes full of concern.

"I'm fine, Flo." I said through clenched teeth. My eyes shot over to Sky, rage uncontrollably building inside me.

"Do I need to kick his ass?" Musa asked, popping up beside me. "Just say the word, Bloom –I'll kick his ass right now!"

"Musa you are not helping her!" Flora snapped, trying to keep her voice low so she wouldn't draw any attention to us. "She's having one of her episodes, and you talking about kicking her boyfriend's butt is the opposite of calming her down!"

"I was just trying to make her feel better!" she claimed, holding her hands up in defense.

"Then try something else!"

The fury building up inside me was close to its boiling point. I could feel myself gradually start to slip over the line that separated me from the darkness, and I was powerless to stop it. Flora and Musa's bickering voices were dull, sounding as if I had water in my ears. My sight went black, any sign of the ballroom around me disappearing in a blink. The voices around me were suddenly gone, and a chill settled in my skin, like ice water was dripping through my veins.

_Calm down_.

The shaking came to a halt, along with the freezing cold.

_You could easily burn down the entire palace if you don't get back in control_.

The voice was familiar, but I had trouble placing exactly where I'd heard it.

_You don't have the luxury of turning into a raging fireball right now, princess._

All of my sense rushed back to me at once, regaining control. Pulling out of Flora's grip, I spun around to look for him. Looking all over the ballroom, I couldn't see a single trace of him. He had to be somewhere nearby to get in my head.

Didn't he?

Turning back to Flora, I realized how hard I was breathing, as if I'd been holding it for an extended amount of time.

All three of the girls were looking at me with faint terror in their eyes. It was blatant that none of them were sure if I was in control or not (even Tecna, who had everything perfectly calculated every second of the day).

"Are you in there, sweetie?" Flora softly asked, taking a daring step forward.

It took me a second, but I nodded.

Sighing in relief, she gave me a hug. "Thank Arcadia, I thought the worst!" Her expression suddenly replicated one of a mother scolding her child. "You can't let your anger get out of control like that! You could get seriously hurt!"

"Actually, the probability of Bloom getting hurt during one of her episodes is next to zero." Tecna said. "Everyone else would be either heavily injured or killed before she would even think to harm herself."

"See, this is why no one comes to you for uplifting advice." Musa said, crossing her arms.

"Why?" she asked, confused.

"_Because you suck at it_!"

Tecna shrugged. "I was just refuting her statement."

"Yeah, well, why don't you try to refute a little better? Like, in a way that doesn't include the deaths of everyone in the room?" Musa remarked. "I'm still going to kick Sky's ass, though, if anyone had any doubts about that."

"It's okay, Musa, really." I said, trying to still the hysterical trembling of my hands. "We'll talk about it later."

"Speak of the devil!"

Sky appeared behind Flora, regret clouding his eyes. He nervously approached me, purposely avoiding Musa when he caught her glare. "Hey," he said, morphing for his regal kingly composure to the stance of the teenage boy he was.

"Hey," I said, looking down at the skirt of my gown.

"Could you girls give us a moment, please?"

The girls all looked at each other, reluctantly, but left when I nodded that I would be fine.

Neither of us spoke once they were gone; both too unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, breaking the tense silence. "I have no right to assume that what you went through is an easy thing to push aside."

"No, you don't." I immediately agreed.

"But, can we just forget about everything that happened before, even if it's just for tonight? I don't want you to only remember us fighting during your first Princess Ball." He held his arm out, offering it for me to take. "Let me make it up to you."

I was still severely pissed at him, and he knew it. However, he was right about one thing. The last thing I wanted to do was bring down Stella's mood at her party, especially since she didn't need to worry about it whatsoever.

Sliding my arm into his, he led me across the room, back to our friends. Musa shot him a look when we arrived, but luckily kept her comments to herself.

"She's going to come out any minute now," Tecna announced, tucking her PDA into a hidden pocket in her skirt.

Brandon finally showed up on the other side of Sky; it was the first time I'd seen him all night. Sky had told me earlier that Brandon had to borrow one of his formal suits, due to his family's money issues. He looked like royalty, standing there, but the sweat building on his forehead revealing his true nervousness.

Brandon was a part of the lower class on Eraklyon, his squireship to Sky being the only way he could pay for tuition to go to Red Fountain. Considering how high maintenance Stella was, I was surprised they were still together after the whole revelation at the Day of the Royals our freshmen year.

"You look great, Bran." I said, shooting him a reassuring smile. "Besides, it doesn't matter what you're wearing, she'll still love you."

"Unless you're one of us," Musa remarked, motioning to the dress she was wearing. I was surprised that she'd actually worn the one Stella had picked out. "Then you'll be banished from the club forever."

"It's not the suit," Brandon said, shifting something in his hands. Inspecting it closer, I saw it was a small box, wrapped in pink and topped with a yellow bow. The present screamed Stella.

"He's worried about her father," Sky whispered in my ear. "He expressed his feelings towards their relationship a few months ago, and they weren't very pretty feelings."

I nodded; how could I forget. I easily remembered the night Stella spent three hours on the phone, yelling at her father about why he couldn't accept her relationship with Brandon. It was weird to think that the man I'd met only a day ago was the same man who'd reject someone as sweet as Brandon.

My thoughts were interrupted by loud trumpets blaring from the top of the staircase. Directing my gaze towards them, I saw the heavy red curtains suddenly part, King Radius stepping out from behind them to greet his guests.

"Welcome, my friends, and thank you all for coming today!" Radius greeted, walking down the stairs as he spoke. "And now it is with great happiness and joy that I give you the belle of the ball, my princess, and yours –Stella!"

Everyone in the ballroom gasped when Stella appeared. She'd replicated the same look from the store in Magix to the tee, down to the high ponytail (which she hardly ever wore her hair up in). A smile crept onto her face when her eyes landed on Brandon, biting her lip slightly. Usually, Stella was as cool as a cucumber in front of Brandon. Why was she so nervous now? Stealing a glance over at Brandon, I saw his jaw had dropped, obviously never having seen the dress before. Sky reached over a shut his mouth, shooting him a warning glance.

Making her way down the stairs, she took her father's hand. Her nervous smile morphed into a happier one as she caught her father's eye.

"My friends, I've got another announcement! This day is not only joyous because of Stella's Princess Ball," he said. "But also because this kingdom will soon have a queen again!"

Stella's face fell, her eyes shooting to mine. "_A_ queen?" she mouthed, silently.

I shrugged, just as confused as she was.

"In one month's time, Countess Cassandra and I will be married!"

The look in Stella's eyes went from confusion to pure shock as Cassandra walked up to them, a triumphant smirk on her face. I could barely hear what Cassandra said to her over the sound of the cheering crowd around us, but Stella's face turned an angry red before she stormed past her and her father and towards the other side of the ballroom.

Trying not to trip over my own feet in my too-tall heels, I dashed after her, weaving through the mass of people.

"Stella, wait!" I yelled, catching her just outside the crowd, near one of the massive windows.

"Can you believe that?" she asked, seething. "Can you believe he just announced that in front of _everyone_?" She was pacing back and forth, fists clenched by her sides.

"Stell, you knew there was always the possibility that his surprise wasn't going to be him and your mom reconciling."

"That's now what I'm pissed about, Bloom!" she nearly shouted. "I came here a few months ago to see my dad, and s_he_," she pointed over at Cassandra, "was never brought up once!"

"Maybe they just really hit it off?' I suggested, pathetically.

"She's trying to weasel her way into being the Queen of Solaria! And Chimera is right there with her trying to take my place!" she raged on. "This is such bullshit! How could my dad fall for that bullshit act?"

"Stella, calm down." Flora said, glancing around. "You don't want to make a scene."

"Oh, _I_ don't want to make a scene?"

"Yo, Stell, chill!" Musa interjected. "Look on the bright side, it could be a crap ton worse than this!"

"_How_?"

"Chimera could've had ten sisters!"

Stella grew silent, her gaze deadly serious. "This is not a joke, Musa. This is a very serious matter."

"Lighten up, Miss Sunshine!"

I immediately stepped between the two, pushing them apart. "Okay, we're all going to go and chill!" I compromised. "We're going to stand here, and Stella, you're going to go find your dad and talk with him about it. Good? Good."

Stella stood there for a moment, but eventually listened, taking her sweet time walking across the ballroom to her father.

"You seem to be back to normal a little bit now," Flora said, almost like a proud mother. "You're starting to take initiative again."

"I just wanted them to shut up." I said, rubbing my temples. "They were making my splitting headache split even more."

"But you do feel better, right?" she asked, laying a hand on my shoulder.

"As better as I can get."

She nodded, surprisingly understanding. "It's a start."

I gave her a weak smile.

"So, what really happened with Sky over there?"

I debated saying anything, but opened my mouth to speak.

"Would you do me the honor of having your first dance?"

Turning to the left, I saw Sky bowed down in front of me, hand out for me to take. Grateful for an easy out, I graciously took it and let him lead me out onto the floor.

If there was one thing that I could label myself the worst at, it would be dancing. No matter what kind of dancing it was, I sucked at it. Sky had tried to let me lead before, but I absolutely refused each time, reminding him of my two left feet. Sky was an experienced dancer; therefore, it made much more sense for him to lead and for me to never lead a dance for the rest of my life.

And I was alright with that.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chimera move behind one of the pillars, trying to hide from sight. My eyes never left her as Sky continued to whirl me across the dance floor. I'd lost complete interest in what we were doing; focused only on what trick Chimera was trying to pull.

She was muttering something to herself, but I couldn't read what her lips were saying. Before I could bring it up to Sky, she threw her arms up in a deformed X-shape, and a ball of green energy appeared and shot across the room, directly for Stella.

It hit her straight on, knocking her to the floor.

"Stella!"

Pulling away from Sky, I immediately rushed over to her fallen form. Not caring about the expensive dress I was wearing, I knelt down beside her, opposite Radius, starting to grow terrified when I didn't see her moving.

Throwing my gaze around the ballroom, I saw that Chimera had disappeared; nowhere to be found. I wasn't sure what she'd done, but my fist was definitely going to possess nine-tenths of her face, no matter what Flora said.

A bright light suddenly burst from Stella, matching the same green as the ball of energy that had hit her. Sky threw his arm around my waist in an instant, yanking me away from Stella. I tried to crawl back across the floor to reach her again, but he held me protectively against his chest, blocking me from the light. A sound that closely resembled a sharp scream echoed through the room, and the light immediately vanished in a single moment.

The green light only left silence in its wake, cold and deadly. Slowly, I extricated myself some from Sky's arms, directing my attention back to Stella.

Gasps emanated from the guests, filled with horror and fear. Champagne flutes shattered against the floor, and from the noise behind me, I was pretty sure someone had fainted.

Stella stood there, dress torn, eyes full of tears as she looked at herself. Every human feature she had had changed. I couldn't make out what kind of creature she had turned into, but it wasn't pleasant to say the least; green and large, almost like a frog.

Looking over at Radius, I saw fear in his eyes, but it was clouded by his concern for his daughter. It was the exact opposite reaction of his guests, which relieved me. The last thing we needed was for Radius to turn on Stella in a room full of guards and royals.

Cassandra came up behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder and muttered something to him, glancing over at Stella. I couldn't hear him over Stella's cries, but the moment she finished speaking, my stomach dropped.

Disgust replaced his concern.

"Guards!" he shouted, pointing over at Stella. "Seize that awful creature!"

* * *

><p><em>I finally got to post Chapter 5! Yess! As Jean Valjean once said, "Thank God, thank God, I've lived to see this day!" <em>

_Alright, I know I said I would have this up a few days ago, but some family issues came up that involved a family member's health that postponed my update. I've been taking it very hard these last few days, and I'm not sure how the next few weeks are going to go in my house, and in my head. I will not disclose any other information about that publicly, so that's all I will say about that. Since this is going on, as well as applying for scholarships for college and practicing for my audtion with AMDA, I will most likely not post another update till January._

_This is by far my most favorite chapter, mostly because of all the allusions that I put in this that will make appearances either later in this fic, and in the sequel! And it makes me squeal just thinking about it! Also, stay on the lookout for a little more of Dark Bloom. That may or may not make another appearance further on down the road that isn't just her nearly going over the edge. *wink*_

_Now, I'm going to go and draft the next few chapters because YES, there will be a major time jump between now and then. I chose not to cover the Mirror of Truth expedition, since nothing would have changed, like, at all. So, when the next chapter starts, it'll be right after the Mirror of Truth happens. _

_Please remember to leave a review, and I will see you all soon!_

_~Bloom_


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